


Stark Family Values

by angelcakes12332



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Awesome Pepper Potts, F/M, Happy hogan is a big dork, Nick Fury Feels, Parent Tony Stark, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Snarky Jarvis, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark holds a star spangled grudge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 20:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 137,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4236219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelcakes12332/pseuds/angelcakes12332
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony gets a phone call that may change his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not a complete work. I'm new to posting here!! so I don't really know how to fix that yet.

It had been a rough day, hopping from meeting to meeting Tony felt like he was going to combust. He was on his way home from the last meeting of the day when he got a phone call from a hospital. Confusion kept him from answering his phone, being that his parents died in a car accident when he was in his teens and having no other close relatives. Ignoring the first call Tony undid his tie and mussed up his hair letting out a deep sigh. Before he could let his head fall back and close his eyes, the phone rang again with the same number. Groaning in annoyance Tony decided to set the caller straight.  
  
“Stark, talk to me” he greeted.  
  
“Yes hello Mr. Stark this is Dr. Crain calling from Weil Cornel medical facility in New York City. Is it at all possible for you to come out to the hospital?”  
  
Tony sighed checking his watch, 9:30pm. He was currently on route to his home in long island. Taking a deep breath Tony questioned the man “may I ask why I need to drive to the big apple this late at night?”  
  
“Well I’d prefer to discuss this matter in person rather than over the phone” the doctor explained.”  
  
Rubbing a hand over his face tony grunted “Happy, change of plans take us to Weil cornel” he told his driver. Giving Tony a slight frown into the rearview mirror, but not protesting, Happy made a U-turn at the next light. “ETA 11:00 doc see you in a few” he said into the phone.  
  
“Thank you Mr. Stark for your understanding” the doctor responded. “Sure, sure” and with that he ended the conversation.  
  
10:50 had them pulling up to the hospital and happy double parked near the entrance allowing Tony to exit the car before finding a secure parking spot. As Tony made his way in through the sliding doors he looked around until he spotted the front desk to the right of his entrance. Making his way to the woman situated there tony cleared his throat  
  
“Ahem, yeah hi, umm I received a call from a Dr. Crain?”  
  
The woman, her pin read Alice Mathers, looked up in confusion but upon seeing who she was facing decided to call upstairs.  
  
“Err sure give me one sec.” She picked up a phone and dialed the sector Dr. Crain was located. “Yes this is Alice from the lobby desk, I have a-” looking to Tony for what she should call him.  
  
“oh um Mr. Stark” he remembered the doctor had referred to him by such.   
  
“Mr. Stark here saying Dr. Crain called him? Uh huh, oh ok, I’ll send him up”. Hanging up the phone Alice spoke to Tony. “Okay, Dr. Crain is on the 4th floor just take the elevator on your left and make a right when you exit, they’ve notified him that you are on your way up and he will be waiting for you in the waiting room upstairs.”  
  
With a wink and a two finger salute Tony made his way over to the elevator. Pressing the up button tony looked at the directory beside the doors to see that the 4th floor was the labor and delivery level. Dread immediately filled Tony as the elevator dinged announcing its arrival. Stepping onto the elevator Tony gave himself a pep talk. “Alright best case scenario some female just used his name to get money.” He could fight this whatever, there was just no way. Well technically there was a way, but no not possible because, and he …. Oh jeez I’m really bad at pep talks.  
  
Stepping off the elevator onto the 4th floor he turned right, immediately seeing the waiting room where a doctor was leaning on the counter. Tony made his way over to him  
  
“Um yeah, Dr. Crain?” he questioned. Seeing the doctor nod. Tony was about to go on the defense opening his mouth to dispute... Whatever this is. But Crain beat him to it.  
  
“Hello Mr. stark, this evening around 8:30 Annalise Trescott gave birth, but didn’t pull through.” Crain told him with a solemn look.  
  
Tony froze, Anna Trescott that name wrung a bell, having met her at a gala around 8 ½ Mon- oh no, no he paled. Nononoono this couldn’t be happening. “How did she, wha-‘the doctor cut him off before he could start panicking'  
  
“she gave birth via C-section, we tried everything we could but, well it was just too much, her family is being notified. We just need to know if you are going to fight or sign over your rights.”  
  
“Wait what uh ….” He floundered “can I see the baby first?”  
  
With a slight smile the doctor began walking, but called over his shoulder “Babies.”  
  
That made Tony pause “What now?”  
  
“Babies, plural” the Doctor reiterated.  
  
“As in twins?” Tony managed to gasp out.  
  
“Actually, triplets” The doctor corrected with a smile.  
  
Tony grabbed his chest “Fucking triplets! Aw hell!”.   
  
A passing nurse glared at Tony, he responded with a “so sue me” look. “Deep breaths stark deep breaths you will not faint, hang in there” he mumbled to himself. The doctor chuckled, earning a glare from Tony, before they stopped at the nursery viewing window. The doctor pointed to the left where three babies were each swaddled in pink blankets.  
  
Looking at the label on the cradles the babies were situated in, Tony noticed there were no names listed besides Trescott and the time and date of birth. “No names.” Tony remarked.  
  
“No she didn’t get to voice what she wanted to name them. She had you listed as the girls’ father. So we were going to do some blood work but we’d need you-”  
  
Tony stopped him there. Looking closer he could see brown curly tufts of hair on the girls’ heads. The same shade as his he noticed. Though the girl’s skin tone was light he could tell that they were going to have a darker complexion than his being that Anna was a light skinned African American.  
  
“What about Anna’s family?” He asked, though he already knew the answer, all she had was her half-brother on her mom’s side, an absentee father and a deceased mother, being that was how they bonded over drinks before they had a drunken night of release. Tuning back in after the doctor had voiced his thoughts aloud, Tony asked about the brother, remembering Crain had said something about contacting her family.  
  
“Well actually he's on his way down here, we told him of the situation and he is coming down for Ms. Trescott's things. He didn’t say anything about the girls though.”  
  
“I see.” was Tony’s response, but he didn’t he couldn’t fathom a thing, what was he supposed to do. Looking over at the triplets he was having an internal debate. How could he take care of three, hell, three newborns on his own? He pondered over adoption but his mind immediately rejected that idea. He helped bring them into this world, the least he could do was find a way to take care of them.  
  
As he was thinking, he gave the doctor the okay to run the DNA test using his samples. One of the girls woke up, the one on the end, and in what seemed a chain reaction the other two popped their eyes open one after the other, causing Tony to chuckle and smile. The girls looked around at the ceiling before they turned their questioning gazes to the glass Tony was on the other side of. As if in recognition they smiled towards him before slowly drifting back off to sleep. Simultaneously warming Tony’s heart and winning him over. He sighed this was going to be difficult but, he wanted this he realized.  
  
Just then the elevator dinged, tony ignored it as a tall black man came to stand beside him. He turned to meet his intimidating gaze, Tony always had a headstrong reaction to intimidating people, but before he could say anything the doctor returned.  
  
“Ahh Mr. Fury let me get your sisters things for you.” The doctor greeted.  
  
Mr. Fury as it was gave the man a terse nod before looking into the window. “Triplets, damn, they have Trescott's nose. L.ucky girls, not so lucky father” Fury said with light amusement in his eyes.  
  
Tony sharply inhaled “Wait! You’re Anna’s older Brother?”  
  
“Half-brother.” Fury Corrected “Nicholas Fury.” the man greeted with a nod.  
  
“Anthony Stark.” he returned.  
  
The man turned to fully face Tony at his greeting “as in-”  
  
“Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist.” The shorter man confirmed.  
  
At this Nick gave Tony a raised eyebrow, then an eye roll “yeah, okay about-” but before he could continue Dr. Crain returned with a small bag that he handed off to Nick. He then turned to Tony.  
  
“Mr. Stark the results came back positive, Congratulations you are the father to three healthy baby girls. Have you made a decision?” The last question caught the man’s attention, they both waited to hear Tony’s response.  
  
“Right, well if they’re mine, they’re mine so... Where do I sign?”  
  
“Oh I’ll get the paper work, names?” the Doctor reminded Tony.  
  
“Right well?” he turned to Nick giving him a questioning look.  
  
“Yeah I’ll leave that to you.” Nick announced while handing Tony a business card. “If you need anything give me a ring.” Hand still out stretched with the business card Nick waited for Tony to take it.  
  
“I don’t like to be handed things.” Tony responded to the man’s raised eyebrow.  
  
“Right, well then.” Nick tucked the card into Tony’s suit pocket. “Take care Mr. Stark and just know I got my Eyes on you.” He said as he made his way into the waiting elevator, letting it close behind him.  
  
“Weird.” Tony thought aloud. Turning back to the window Tony looked at each girl carefully. Names, Right. He continued to stare until the doctor returned ten minutes later.  
  
“Mr. Stark if you could just sign here I can allow you in to see the girls, I figured you’d want to hold them?” The doctor offered.  
  
“Yeah sure why not.” Tony Responded while signing and following the doctor into the nursery room. After removing his jacket and washing his hands he followed the doctor over to the girls. Gently picking up the one closest to him the small baby blinked up at him to reveal eyes the same color as his. Tony cradled the baby in his arms while thinking aloud.  
  
“Names, hey kid you need a name. Let’s get down to it. For you child of mine I dub thee Alexandria Alyssa.” putting Alex down he moved to the next child. “And you, Chryssandra Marie” At that Chryssy giggled. “Oh you like that? Good you’re stuck with it." Kissing her on the forehead he gently laid her down before moving to his last baby girl. Picking her up, she looked at him, as if challenging him to give her a bad name. “Ahh so you’re going to be a tough nut to crack, jeez you drive a hard bargain, okay how about Anastasia Lynn? oh hoho where did that come from ... I’m so good at this. Piece of cake I can handle triplets.” Ana seemed to role her eyes at this, or maybe Tony imagined that, she was barely a day old. As he laid her back down she did seem to have a content smile on her face.  
  
Turning back to the doctor, Tony told him to give the girls the last name Trescott, his name coming with a lot of unwanted attention. The doctor only paused for a second before adding that to the files. Escorting Tony out of the room the doctor explained that the girls would need to stay the night and that Tony could help with feeding and diaper changes so he could get accustomed to taking care of the girls basic needs. To which Tony agreed before telling the doctor he’d need to make a phone call. With a nod they went their separate ways while tony placed a call out to Happy who he remembered was in the car waiting.  
  
"Hey Happy, congrats you’re an uncle! ‘there was a pause before’, in through the mouth, yeah deep breaths. Okay listen I need you to pick some items up from the store. Yeah crib, that weird baby holder playpen, bottles okay, wow I’ll just order the stuff and you pick it up.” He Explained.  
  
“Boss we’re leaving to go back to Malibu this weekend. You forgot didn’t you?” Happy asked.  
  
Tony paused “yeah actually, oh crap how am I going to, wait I’ll just call up the God father” he chuckled, deciding then that his best friend James Rhodes, Rhodey, Was going to be the god father and he would be assisting in getting the girls back to Malibu. Yup three guys three babies, alright that’s settled, Tony chuckled again before telling Happy that he would be calling back. Finding Rhodey’s number he quickly dialed the man.  
  
“Colonel Rhodes” a groggy voice responded.  
  
“Rhodey hey bud I need you! Come down to Weil Cornel.” with that he hung up. Knowing that after leaving his friend hanging he’d get there all that faster.  
  
An hour later brought a frantic Rhodey running off an elevator. Finding Tony in the waiting room sitting down looking out a window he walked over. “Hell Tony, what did you do, why are you-” before he could finish tony hopped up and dragged him over to the window of the nursery. “What are yo-”  
  
“There.” Tony pointed “Alex, Chryssy, and Ana your God daughters. Eh eh, look at those faces.”  
  
“Tony how? Me? ‘the man gestured to himself' “A God father ?Tony are you sure tha-? wow thank you!”  
  
“Um don’t thank me yet. Tomorrow you, me, and happy are flying the girls back to Malibu” Tony deadpanned.  
  
“Ah hell” Rhodes groaned.


	2. Settling in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting acquainted!!

Getting to Malibu in his private Jet with two of the men he trusted with his life and his girls, was as difficult as it sounded, made easier by the fact that they both assisted the nurses the night before in the caring of the triplets. All the necessary items had already been shipped to the mansion so when they pulled up Tony handed off Alex to Rhodey to begin building all the cribs, and play pens. Finding that the baby seats didn’t require too much building, they started with that so they’d have somewhere to place the girls while they helped Tony. After setting the girls in the seats the men got to work on the bigger items. Taking breaks in between to feed the girls the men had finally set up the girls’ nursery room. 3 cribs, 2 changing tables 1 play pen in the nursery, 3 swinging chair sets and a playpen in Tony’s workshop, to Rhodey’s annoyance, a play pen and 3 bouncy seats in the living room, and a completely baby proofed mansion. The men were exhausted. Rhodey decided to work from Tony’s along with Happy. As the men looked at their handy work Happy walked over to the girls who were currently in their bouncy seats. “Hey Tony how do you tell them apart… because well um”  
  
At this Tony and Rhodey walked over to him “Hush now Harold this is easily dealt with look the one on the right is Alex, in the middle is Chryssy, and last but not least is the lovely Ana” Tony explained.  
  
Flabbergasted Rhodey’s eyes widened “ Tony how, how did you do that I can’t tell which is which yet.”  
  
“Ah my dear friends these are my children, the apples from my tree the CPU’s from my motherboard, th-”  
  
Rhodey interrupted “The anklets are still on.”  
  
“The anklets are still on” Tony Repeated. “Yeah okay sure. But father’s intuition prevails I’d know which was which without some identity anklet from a hospital.”  
  
Happy and Rhodey rolled their eyes before leaving Tony to stare at the girls. After that day the guys decided to color coordinate the girls’ clothes until they became more familiar with their personalities. Green and dark blue for Chryssy, Red and purples for Alex, yellow and pinks for Ana. The guys were always there to help Tony, always having at least two people taking care of them at all times so none of them were ever overwhelmed. But for the most part they hung out in the workshop where Tony could work, Rhodey could make phone calls and do his paperwork, and Happy could, well Happy being Tony’s well paid chauffer and best friend, was off the clock. Months passed by and Tony could completely tell his girls apart, Rhodey after comparing all three together could manage to tell who was who, and Happy, well Happy was just confused they were triplets for Pete’s sake, practically identical, he just needed more time.  
  
Approaching the girls’ 1st birthday it was clear they got Tony’s genius. All of them being able to communicate well enough what they wanted and enjoyed playing with anything Tony Dubbed appropriate for them in his workshop, and being able to identify animals by voicing the sounds they made. It happened 2 months after said birthday when Alex took her first steps.  
  
Chryssy and Ana had been rolling around on a blanket in the workshop while Alex had been sitting under Tony’s desk. Seeing that her sisters were away from her she began by holding on to the legs of the table to stabilize herself, then on shaky legs she begin her strut over to her sisters, Seeing her coming over Chryssy and Ana began giggling before they got impatient with how long Alex was taking to reach them so using each other for balance they met her half way. Once all joined together they fell into a giggling mass at being reunited. Tony sat wide eyed before he yelled out to the other two in the room at what just happened.  
  
Though they missed it Tony realized that he’d almost missed the encounter himself. He decided to build J.A.R.V.I.S his artificial intelligence, A.I., to monitor and help the girls. To keep the Minions, as he dubbed them busy, he modified their baby rolling walkers. Each equipped with Jarvis’ voice, as well as learning games they could play that, when in close range with each other, they could play and learn together much to the triplets delight. A few months after that the girls began speaking. But the girls had somehow convinced Jarvis to teach them multiple languages, causing them to say their favorite words or phrase in their everyday speech.  
  
Around the tender age of 2 ½ the girls began tinkering when they were in the playpens. Each wearing a pair of goggles, Tony somehow found that fit their tiny faces, were surrounding one of their broken toys deciding to modify it to become a pet robot dog, when they realized they needed a chip for voice recognition.  
  
“He has to know when to sit, and when to come and when to stay” Alex explained to her sisters.  
  
Spotting it over at one of their dad’s work tables the girls hatched a plan.  
  
“Chryssy you start working on a way to get us out of the pen, Alex you need to create a distraction make sure daddy pays attention, uncle Rhodey and uncle Happy are upstairs so we have a little bit of time before they get back” Ana devised.  
  
“Yeah okay, Ana but you are going to have to find a way for us to get back in the pen” Chryssy added.  
  
After quick nods they got to work. After tying all their blankeys together Chryssy knotted one end to the hook where the upper half of the play pen use to attach. Throwing the other end outside of the play pen the girls began the climb after boosting each other over, and grabbing Alex who happened to be last to pull along with them. Sliding down the blanket the girls each tumbled down to the workshops cold floor.  
  
“Well that went okay, alright Alex distract daddy so me and Ana can grab the chip.”  
  
Nodding again Alex ran to the other side of the workshop before laying on the ground, and promptly began wailing like a banshee, immediately alerting Tony to his distressed daughter. “Talk to me baby where does it hurt? Hmm” he questioned as he made his way to the other side of the workshop.  
  
“That’s our girl! Ok Chryssy lets go." The two made their way over to the now vacant work bench to retrieve their prize.  
  
“Wait how did you get out of the pen Alex?” Tony questioned his still crying toddler.  
  
“Oh poop” shrieked Chryssy “now would be a good time to get us back into the pen Ana, Daddy will put Alex back, just get us in there!” the toddler whispered.  
  
“I’m on it, stay close and follow me” and with that they were off. Seeing her sister headed towards a miniature trampoline she sped up, together they pushed it over to the side of the playpen where the blanket they used was still hanging. After getting a running start Ana giggled out “aleooop’ before jumping on to the trampoline and grabbing on the blanket to finish pulling herself into the pen. Following her sister’s lead, Chryssy began giggling before jumping onto the trampoline and pulling herself in. Seconds after she lands Tony brought Alex back over, just as Chryssy and Ana pulled the blankets back into their domain giggling madly all the while.  
  
“oi minions what’s so funny?” Tony asked as he set a now Happy Alex in with her sisters.  
  
The girls only responded with a “nothing daddy!” which only drew Tony’s suspicion, but before he could question them more he heard glass breaking up stairs which he shook his head at before going back to his work table.  
  
“Well did you get the chip?” Alex looked between her sisters “because all that crying had better not have been for nothing!”  
  
Chryssy only rolled her eyes while Ana responded with “of course we did silly” handing over the chip. Alex placed it inside of the robotic dog.  
  
“Now let’s see if it works” Chryssy squealed. Turning the dog on it immediately began running in circles around the girls who giggled at its antics.  
  
“Okay, okay sit girl” Ana commanded, to which the dog immediately sat and waited for its next command.  
  
“Hahaha success!!” Alex exclaimed  
  
"our first mission perfectly executed” Chryssy agreed.  
  
“This, girls, calls for codenames” Alex began.  
  
“Ooh like spies, are we spies? Please say yes please say yes!” Ana begged. All three broke into giggles again.   
  
Alex was the first to talk. “of course we are! The best team there is.”  
  
“Okay cool code names. Um ooh I’ll be Miscy for mischief” Ana declared.  
  
At this Alex jumped up “Ohhh I get to be May for Mayhem”  
  
Chryssy panicked “What hey wait I need help what should I be!!!!”  
  
“What oh you can be Maddi for madness?” Ana offered.  
  
“Yes perfect and oh we need a team name”  
  
“yeah okay but that can wait, because I’m hungry” the girls notified this to their dad who gathered them all up and took them upstairs. One on his back and the others in his arms.  
  
Over the next few months it became clear that Tony was going to need help with the girls. With Rhodey needing to go back to work Tony decided it was time to introduce the girls to his personal assistant, the one he believed he could trust to handle Stark industry business as well as his best kept secret, or secrets. The girls were going to meet Miss Virginia “Pepper” Potts. The question was how. Should he arrange a meeting? Should he let her meet the girls and just “hey pep I’m not going to make it to my meeting later, and oh yea these are my daughters.” Yeah, no he didn’t see that ending to well, though he really should tell pepper he wasn’t going to make it to that meeting later.  
  
It was a Friday evening and Tony was on his way home having left the girls with Happy, deciding to drive himself to and from work that day. Stepping through the threshold Tony felt he had forgotten to do something while at work, brushing it off, he continued down the hallway following the sounds of giggling.  
  
“Alright you three where is it, I turned my back for 2 seconds, so hand it over."  
  
“Whatever do you mean Uncle Harold?" Chryssy questioned while her sisters giggled harder at the use of their uncles real name.  
  
“Don’t you play that with me young lady I know you have it, so I’ll count to 3 and whichever one of you small monsters have it, can just hand it over” as Happy began his count down the girls shared a look before nodding, just as he reached 3, they were off.  
  
Splitting up in different directions, Chryssy ran right past her uncle while Alex and Ana ran off to the sides. Choosing to chase after Chryssy Happy played right into the toddlers’ hands. Spotting Trish, their robotic dog, sitting where she left her Chryssy yelled for the dog “GET HIM TRISH! GO GIRL GO!” leaping from her spot on the coach Trish began her assault barking at Happy making him pause in his chase, leading to phase two of the girls plans. On either side of the room Alex and Ana held one side of a rope they’d previously laid on the floor pulling each side taught to create a clothes line effect that came up to their uncle’s calves.  
  
Giving the signal to Chryssy, who gave the dog its next command “Trish activate: marshmallow canon."  
  
“Marshmallow can- oww” Happy was cut off when miniature marshmallows began shooting from the dog’s mouth, aimed straight for his head. “Wah hey cut it out” Happy grunted out before taking a step back, tripping over the girls’ trap.  
  
Alex jumped from her position yelling “Attack” leading the girls’ tickle assault on a now grounded Happy, laughing whilst trying to gently shake of the girls who clung to him with all there might. Happy stood up making the girls cling tighter just as Tony stepped into the room.  
  
“Would you look at that” Tony called from the doorway.  
  
They immediately froze and looked to see him with amusement in his eyes. “Oh hey boss, you’re home welcome back” Happy managed to get out, while a still frozen Ana had her tiny arms wrapped around his neck. “Just trying to get my keys back from the tiny titans.”  
  
Tony looked at the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen “you mean those keys?” he said while pointing towards the keys that were lying over on said counter.  
  
“How did... when did they...”  
  
Ana interrupted him “we just moved them from your pocket to the table” she giggled out.  
  
“Hid them in plain sight, works every time” Alex told him with a sigh.  
  
The girls dropped from Happy to run over to tackle their dad into a hug. “Welcome home daddy!” the girls yelled to Tony who immediately picked his girls up to complete the group hug.  
  
“Good to be home ladies, did you girls eat yet” he asked while looking at Happy.  
  
“No silly” Alex responded “we wanted to eat with you!”  
  
“Well then ‘Tony said with a smile’ let’s find something to eat!”  
  
And so he brought them all to the kitchen before placing them in their seats at the table. Tony then placed his pink apron that the girls had gotten him around his neck and his chef hat on his head, eliciting giggles all around, before he got to work.  
  
“How does spaghetti sound minions?”He asked.  
  
“No sauce” yelled Ana.  
  
“But with meatballs” finished Chryssy.  
  
“Sure, sure.” Tony agreed before getting out the pot to boil water and a cookie sheet to bake the meatballs on. As there dad began working the girls began chatting at the table Happy already grabbed his keys and let Tony know he was heading home for the night.  
  
Alex began singing “on top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese” to which the rest of the girls joined in “I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed” getting louder with each note, the girls continued “It rolled off the table and on to the floor” Tony began dancing while pouring pasta into the pot. He began singing in what he believed was an Italian accent “and then my poor meat ball Rolled out of the door”. Being as loud as they were they didn’t hear the door opening or Jarvis’ attempt to alert the singing family that they had a guest.  
  
Entering into the house pepper followed the singing, mumbling to herself “I hear children, why exactly are there children in my bosses house?" she walked in on the scene of said boss and what appeared to be 3 toddlers shouting about meatballs. Having his back to the threshold, Tony continued singing in a deep baritone voice “and then my poor meatball was nothing bu- hey girls what happened why’d you sto-” Tony’s voice stopped upon turning around and noticing pepper in the doorway.  
  
“uh Mr. Stark you left the papers I needed you too look over on your desk, I thought I’d just” she stopped talking noticing the 3 girls whispering.  
  
“Who do you think she is?” Chryssy asked her sisters.  
  
“I don’t know ‘commented Ana” but she has pointy shoes. OH oh do you think she’s an elf?”  
  
Alex turned sharply to her sister “Of course not she’s way too tall to be an elf… unless” she began but Chryssy continued.  
  
“unless she’s an elf like in the lord of the rings, she’s just as pretty as Thranduil” she said causing Pepper to blush.  
  
“Ah Pepper I knew I was forgetting something, and would you look at that, I knew I kept you around for a reason” he turned to the girls “yo mini-threes this is pepper my assistant Pepper these are my daughters.”  
  
“YOUR DAUGHTERS” pepper shrieked “how do you have, and there’s three of them!” pepper noticed. Looking around she found the similarities from the brown hair, currently in waist length pigtails, to the chocolate brown eyes with gold flecks in them. Pepper needed to sit, feeling as if she was going to hyperventilate.  
  
“Hey pep relax take a seat just breathe”  
  
“Tony you have three daughters” pepper wailed.  
  
“Yup Triplets if you want to be specific. Hey minions ‘he called to the girls’ introduce yourselves.”  
  
“Oh I’m Alex!” they began. “My name's Chryssy!” “and I’m Ana the oldest”  
  
Alex gasped at this. “Are not, I’m the oldest!”  
  
To which Chryssy intervened “what no way I’m the oldest!”  
  
Before the girls could continue Tony interrupted “Technically it was a C-section so none of you are really the oldest” The girls promptly stuck there tongues out at Tony.  
Alex whispered to the group “we’ll settle this later.”  
  
To Tony Chryssy shouted “Can Pepper Stay for dinner!?”  
  
“Oh yea please daddy I’ve never had dinner with an elf before” Ana commented, the other two girls burst into giggles.  
  
“Yeah, okay I don’t see why not, do you pepper? ‘He looked over to his assistant who began to protest “Great ‘Tony cut off’ it’s settled hey pepper check the meatballs they should be almost done.”  
  
And with that they finished cooking. Pepper bringing the food over while Tony set the Girls up with their designated power puff girl plate. After everyone settled down and began eating the girls started peppers interrogation, Ana getting her question out first “so if you’re not an elf what are you?”  
  
“Let it go sestra!! Daddy already said she was his assistant, a better question would be if you had to pick between pizza or macaroni what color would you choose?” Chryssy queried.  
  
To pepper’s confusion the girls all paused mid chew to stare at her to see what she would choose. “Uhm well” she floundered.  
  
“you have to pick pepper because if you don’t the satellite will fall and will take out the hidden flowers in the Appalachian” Alex explained.  
  
“I uh wha-” was pepper’s response while she looked to Tony for help.  
  
“Yeah Pep wouldn’t want the flower’s to suffer better answer the question” Tony added, unhelpfully.  
  
“er sausage pizza?” Pepper guessed unsure what any of the topics had to do with the other. Chryssy looked at Pepper with suspicion “Interesting point Miss Pepper, care to explain”  
  
“well Sausage pizza because macaroni would only make things worse?” Pepper continued making all the girls freeze once again.  
  
“I see.” Alex announced, Pepper just looked confused at the triplets. “Father this one is a keeper don’t lose her we will need her for dooms day” Alex continued.  
  
“Yes I see what you mean minion she does seem to be a valuable asset” Tony agreed before sending a wink to pepper who relaxed upon realizing she passed whatever test the three girls had just given her.


	3. Chapter 3

With the help of Pepper they were able to get back on track, the girls now having 4 people to look after them. Good thing to, because after the girls turned 3, things started to get strange. One night after being tucked into bed Chryssy woke with a start. Thinking she heard something she began looking around for the source, after not finding one she laid back down. Sighing and pulling her blankey up to her chin she began to close her eyes, until she heard the voice again. She began panicking until she realized she recognized the voice, being that it was Alex’s.

Giggling she looked at her sister in their shared bed thinking the girl was only talking in her sleep. Looking closer she noticed that her sister wasn’t moving her lips “What the?” Chryssy mumbled, moving her head so her ear was closer to Alex’s mouth. It was weird. She could hear Alex’s voice, but Alex wasn’t actually talking. As her hair shifted, sweeping across the sleeping triplet’s face Alex giggled, before peeking up at Chryssy who was still hovering over her.  
  
“Boo.” she breathed into her sister’s ear.  
  
“Wah!” Chryssy jolted, before giggling at her sister.  
  
“What were you doing?” Alex questioned her.  
  
“I thought I heard you talking, but your lips weren’t moving, care to explain Alexandria” Chryssy accused.  
  
Before Alex could argue, they heard a voice say **“come back butterflies.”** Freezing in place they looked at each other.  
  
“That wasn’t me” they both said at the same time. “Jinx” they whispered together before silently giggling.  
  
Turning to the still sleeping Ana, on the other side of Chryssy, they crawled towards her. Leaning in closer they stayed silent to see if they could hear anything.   
  
**“That’s nice Mr. Caterpillar, would you like some more tea”** Ana’s voice said.  
  
“Okay that was freaky, her lips definitely were not moving” Alex whispered to a wide eyed Chryssy.

**“I told you so”** Chryssy thought to herself.

“Oh hush that still doesn’t explain why we can hear her.” Alex told her sister.

“Wait what?” Chryssy questioned.

“You don’t need to say I told you so” Alex explained to her while rolling her eyes.

Chryssy froze “I didn’t say that out loud, did I?” 

“Of course you did, I heard you say it” Alex whispered back.

“Wait, okay start thinking something” Chryssy challenged her sister.

**“Okay start thinking something”** Alex thought.

**“Hey stop copying me”** Chryssy returned.

**“Hey stop copying me”** Alex continued before she froze. “Wait you heard me?” she questioned.

“Uh yeah, and you heard me because I didn’t say that last thing out loud” Chryssy giggled out.

Alex wiggled excitedly, trying to stay quiet “Aww sweet okay lets only talk in our heads, ready go.”

**“You’re wearing my pjs”** Chryssy began.

**“Well you’re using my pillow”** Alex returned.

**“Well If Ana didn’t take mines I wouldn’t have had to take yours”** Chryssy thought back.

“Will you two stop talking! You’re upsetting the butterflies” Ana grumbled as she rubbed her eyes before yawning, freezing both of her sisters in place. “What, why are you guys looking at me like that” she asked before thinking to herself **“is it because I took Chryssy’s pillow, it’s just so soft”** she sighed to herself before flopping back.

“We have the same pillows” Alex told her sister.

“Yeah but Chryssy’s pillow smells like daddy” Ana explained **“I wonder if daddy will make waffles for breakfast”** she thought to herself.

Alex and Chryssy looked at each other before turning to Ana. **“Yeah maybe he’ll add white chocolate chips like the last time”** Alex thought, while crossing her arms and looking at Ana.

“Oh yummy that would be amaz-, wait what? How’d you do that” Ana said to Alex.

**“I don’t know Ana, you tell me”** Alex again said in thought, waiting for Ana to catch on.

“Well how should I kno- hey wait a second” she whispered out loud. Crawling closer to her sister so she was sitting in front of her. “Say something else?” Ana asked.

**“Something else”** Alex thought.

“Hey don’t copy m- oh my gosh you’re lips aren’t moving” Ana told her.

Chryssy shook her head before rubbing her forehead at her sister’s antics.

“How did you do that” Ana continued questioning Alex, who only giggled.

“Ana I said it in my head, silly goose, but you were able to hear it” she explained.

“Don’t be silly that would be crazy” Ana replied ignoring her sister behind her who mumbled an “oh sestra” before giggling, causing Alex to giggle as well.

“Fine. Ana you think something and Chryssy will say what you said okay?” Alex tried.

At this Ana nodded and began **“I accidently spilled apple juice in Uncle Happy’s shoe, and blamed it on Trish.”**

Before Chryssy could repeat what she said, Alex whispered “You what?”

“Well it was an accident I sat the cup on the table but the-, wah you heard me, eeeppp!" Ana shrieked. "This is so cool!”

“Yeah well you didn’t have to listen to him grumbling about his soggy shoe and stupid dogs” Alex told her.

“Let it go, Alex, can’t you see? You guys can hear my thoughts, I thought, I thought in my head” Ana said before fixing a peculiar look on her face.

“Yeah Ana that was a mouthful.” Chryssy said before they all burst into giggles.

“Hah! mystery solved now go back to sleep” Alex told her sisters. Not seeing anything wrong with sharing thoughts with her sisters they told each other everything any way, this would just make things easier. Feeling the same, the girls laid back and went to sleep.  

The next morning still clad in their footie pajamas, they asked their dad to make white chocolate chip waffles for breakfast. Agreeing Tony put the girls in their chairs before setting to work. And so the girls continued talking in their minds while tinkering with their latest projects. Tony began pouring batter into the waffle iron before closing it to cook. He moved towards the fridge to grab the apple juice before stopping. Thinking it was too quiet in the Stark kitchen he turned around to look at his three girls who were all still sporting their bed heads. Seeing them working on the items in their hands, Tony thought maybe the girls were having trouble with their project and were concentrating.

So he decided to offer his help “Hey minions, do you girls need help with what you're working on?”

The girls only looked at him in confusion. “Um no thanks daddy, we’re just creating an outer layer for Trish that will go over her body, so she’ll have fur instead of a metal body” Ana told him before continuing her part of the project.

“Right.” Tony said before continuing breakfast.

Later that day after the girls were dressed and he’d fixed their pig tails, Pepper came over to get Tony to go through some paper work, while she watched the triplets. Upon entering the house she paused.

“It’s quiet.” She said to herself. “Too quiet. Tony? Girls? I brought some more puzzles to solve” she called out. Having bought a 1,000 piece puzzle knowing she’d need to have a more complex size if she wanted the girls to stay occupied longer than two minutes. Making her way down into the workshop where she usually found them she noticed it was still quiet. Seeing Tony at his desk but not actually working on anything, Pepper made her way over.

“Tony, what’s going on, why are you guys so quiet” she asked.

“It’s not me!" He told her. "they’ve been like this all morning, should I be worried, because I’m worried!” Tony explained.

“Maybe we should talk to them see what’s up?” Pepper suggested. Nodding in agreement the two adults made their way over to the girls, who were currently in their area of the workshop putting Trish’s outer layer over her metallic body.

“Hey girls, I bought those puzzles you asked for, want to start working on it?” The red head questioned.

The girls looked to each other as if silently communicating before turning to Pepper.“Yeah okay sounds like fun, do you want to play here or upstairs?” Chryssy asked.

“yeah because if we go upstairs maybe we can eat the rest of the gold fish crackers in the cabinet?” Alex questioned, before they all turned to Pepper with hopeful puppy dog eyes.

“Yeah sure I don’t mind we can head up now if you’d like?” Pepper told them.

Immediately hopping up, all three girls raced up the stairs all the while giggling but oddly enough not actually speaking, until Ana turned on the last step shouting back “Are you guys coming up or what?” Before following her sisters in to the living room.

“Coming!” they yelled before following the toddlers up the stairs.

After getting the girls set up with the puzzle and their snacks Tony and Pepper sat back and watched the girls. Believing that they’d have to start talking, or at least argue about where the pieces don’t fit like they usually did.

After 5 minutes of silence Tony had, had enough, “Okay minions spill, what are you hiding.”

Puzzled the girls stopped what they were doing before looking up at Tony whilst continuing their telepathic conversation. **“What’s he talking about? We didn’t hide anything yet!”** Ana began.

So Alex spoke out loud “We didn’t hide anything yet, Uncle happy doesn’t get here until 5.”

“Then why are you three so quiet?” Pepper asked.

“Oh! It’s easier to talk in our heads.” Chryssy began to explain, while the other two nodded in agreement.

“What? What do you mean?” The older stark questioned.

“well, I just think something and Ana and Chryssy can hear me, so we just talk like that!” Alex told him simply.

At this Pepper and Tony scrunched up their faces in confusion. “Wait, huh? Since when?” their father asked.

“Since last night, that’s how Alex knew I wanted chocolate chip waffles for breakfast silly.” Ana told the man.

“Did she now?” Tony puzzled out loud. “Fine show me prove it” their father challenged.

At this the girls looked at each other before facing Tony. “Okay” they said at the same time.

“How do we prove it?” Alex asked her father.

“Read Pepper’s mind.” Tony continued.

The girls looked to each other again before bursting into giggles

“What?” Pepper asked confused.

“We can only talk to each other, I heard Alex talking in her sleep last night” Chryssy started.

“Only I wasn’t really talking in my sleep I guess she heard me talking in my dream.” Alex told the two adults.

“Yeah and then they started talking to each other and they woke me up, and when I told them to stop talking they looked at me funny, and I thought it was because they knew I was sleeping on Chryssy’s pillow” Ana continued on with the explanation.

“What why?” Tony asked his daughter.

“Well because its soft and it smells like you” she told him with a look that said it was obvious.

Tony only chuckled before he explained that he meant to ask why they looked at her funny.

“Oh because we weren’t actually talking, well we were just not out loud, so we didn’t realize she could hear us” Chryssy explained further.

“Yeah only I could hear them, and so we’ve been doing it all day” Ana finished.

Tony looked at Pepper who shrugged her shoulders, before turning his attention back to the girls, “Okay, but could you talk out loud, you made us nervous, I’m not use to it being so quiet in here and I missed all of your giggling” Tony told them before pulling them towards himself so he could start tickling the girls. Who all began wiggling and giggling at their father’s assault.

“Okay, okay” the girls shrieked out before Tony released them to finish working on their puzzle.

“Well that solves that” he told Pepper, who was looking at the girls, amazement in her eyes that then softened to a fond look when they began arguing about where the puzzle pieces went.

“I guess it does” she agreed before turning to Tony “Now you can look through the paperwork, while I take care of everything upstairs!” she told him while ushering him back down into his workshop.


	4. Office shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold text is when the talk through their link!!

Months later Pepper approached Tony. “Okay so this weekend you need to be in New York, the company is holding a shareholder’s meeting and we’ll need to be there.”

Tony froze. “If I’m going to New York I’ll need Happy to be my driver.”

Pepper nodded in agreement “Oh you’re right do you thing Rhodey could watch the girls?” she asked.

“No, he’ll be training new recruits.” He answered.

Tony began pacing, who could he find to watch the girls on such short notice. He paused mid pace and ran over to his desk before opening a drawer searching for a business card he placed there for safe keeping.

Upon finding it Tony inhaled before typing the number into his phone exhaling when it began ringing. On the fourth ring a woman answered the phone “Director Fury’s office this is Karen speaking, may I ask whose calling?”

“Tony Stark, you mind patching me through to your boss?”

“Please hold” the woman answered.

There was a long pause before the line clicked. “Well, well Mr. Stark to what do I owe the pleasure” the man greeted.

“Hmm, well I’ll be in town on business and I need someone to watch the girls, think you can handle it?” Tony challenged.

“What are they three now?” he questioned

“And a half” Tony added.

Nick ignored his comment but agreed anyway. “Yeah I don’t see why not, bring them by my office and I’ll take care of them until you’re finished” he paused “which is how long exactly?”

To this Tony gave over the phone to Pepper who explained he would need to watch girls from 11am to 5pm, but she would pack everything they needed to stay occupied while with him. After giving her the offices address and directions on where to drop them off they ended the conversation.

The day of the meeting, they followed Nick’s directions to bring them in through the garage. Allowing Pepper to take the girls in, who were dressed in skirts over leggings, and half collared turtle neck sweaters with black ballet flats. All sporting there signature waist length pigtails. Upon entering the building pepper, holding their hands, made her way up to the front desk in the lobby.

“Hi, my name is Pepper Potts, I’m looking for Nicholas Fury?”

The woman at the desk told her to have a seat while she called his office. Bringing the girls over to the chairs and sitting down Pepper began explaining what was going on.

“Okay girls, your father and I have a meeting to go to so you’re uncle on your mom’s side will be watching you” she explained.

“The meeting should be over by 5 so behave for me until then okay?” she asked while taking the time to look each girl in the eyes.

“Okay” they agreed.

Nearby an elevator dinged, a man with a receding hairline wearing a suit stepped off and made his way over to them. “Hello ladies. Director Fury sent me down to retrieve the girls and bring them up stairs”

“Oh, um okay I’m Pepper Potts, and these are Alex, Chryssy, and Ana” she pointed to each girl respectively.

“Phil Coulson” the man greeted.

“They have back packs with activities and snacks in them so they should be fine as long as you just keep an eye on them okay?” she explained.

“Your girls will be in great hands Ms. Potts rest assured” the man told her.

“Right” Pepper conceded. Giving each girl a kiss and a hug before she made her way back to the car.

After watching the car leave the girls turned to the suit, looking to him for instruction.

“Follow me.” the stoic man told them before heading back to the elevator. Instead of pressing a button he pulled out an I.D. card swiping it through the reader. Within seconds the elevator dinged before opening. Stepping into the elevator he turned around, looking down he noticed the girls were still standing outside of the elevator. “Are you coming?” Coulson questioned with a raised eyebrow.

 **“Are we?”** Ana thought to her sisters.

Alex sighed before nodding and leading the other two into the elevator. Once the doors closed Coulson pressed the number 12 button.

There was a, ping, before a robotic voice asked “Verification please”.

Holding down another button Coulson leaned towards it before saying “Agent Phil Coulson,” looking down he continued “and guests.”

 “Verification accepted” the voice said. With that the elevator began its ascent.

 **“What kind of office is this?”** Chryssy questioned her sisters.

The other two shrugged, before grabbing each other’s hands, but still staying silent.

 Reaching their destination Coulson, followed by the triplets, exited the elevator before going down a long hallway. Looking up the girls noticed all the security cameras. Before they could say anything Coulson turned to them. Reaching into his suit he pulled out 3 lanyards.

“Put these around your necks and I can show you to the director’s office.” Coulson began.

“What’s it for” Ana questioned the man.

“It allows you access to certain parts of the facility, you just have to wave it in front of the scanner. If it turns green you’re allowed in, red means the doors stays locked.” He explained to them.

“So you mean as long as the light turns green we’re allowed in the room?” Alex queried.

“Essentially” Coulson confirmed before turning to open the door they stopped in front of them, missing the girls shared smirk.

Following Coulson into the room the girls looked around. In the middle of the room was a long table with twelve chairs surrounding it. The left wall was made up entirely out of a blackboard equipped with chalk and erasers. In the corner of the room was a security camera and the back wall was a floor length window looking out over the city.

“Okay ladies the Director is currently in a meeting he should be done around 1 o’clock. So until then make yourselves comfortable he’ll be in to check on you then okay?”

Nodding they made their way over to the giant rolling chairs Chryssy sitting at the head with Alex and Ana on her sides. Pulling out their “activities” the girls made themselves look busy.

With a nod Coulson left the room.

 **“5, 6, 7”** Alex counted out in her head, making sure the man was gone, before looking up at her sisters. **“You guys saw the camera in the corner right?”** Alex questioned through their link.

 **“Why yes, yes we did.”** Chryssy responded.

 **“Good keep working, in about 2 minutes Ana, you start drawing on the black board for another 2 minutes”** Alex continued on. **“Chryssy and I will join you after that, we will give it about 10 minutes. I want the feed to have something to loop with. So go back and forth between the black board, the table, and the window. Erase what you draw before going back to the table so each time it loops it will be a drawing of something different ok?”**

 **“Kk”** the two chorused.

 So for the next 10 minutes the girls chatted out loud, giggling, while playing around the room.

Alex began **“Okay that should be good. I’ll go over to the window which should be close enough for the sensors we made last night to help me hack into the camera and place it on the loop.”**

Doing as she said in less the 2 minutes the girls breathed a sigh of relief. “That was boring!” Ana groaned

“Can we go exploring now? We have until 1 before we have to meet this uncle!” said Chryssy.

“Yup everything’s set, Chryssy it’s your turn” Alex confirmed.

“Alright phase two begin. The door has no windows so no one can look into the room without opening the door” with that said Chrissy grabbed one of the chairs, rolling it over to the vent at the end of the room. Opening her back pack she pulled out a rope with an enhanced attraction magnet. After stabilizing the chair so it wouldn’t swivel, she climbed into it. Swinging the rope above her head, and releasing it, making a quiet ‘thunk’ the magnet stuck to the cover of the vent.

The other two ran over to help their sister. “Okay one, two pull” Chryssy grunted out.

After getting the cover off Chryssy released the vent cover from the magnet. Repeating her first process of swinging the rope over her head, she released the magnet into the horizontal vent shaft.

“Alright ladies one at a time” she called.

And with a nod she went up first. Scooting and climbing up the now hanging rope.  Once at the top she pulled off her backpack removing her modified tablet, she brought up the digital schematics of the building. With a giggle of success she turned around to see her last sister make it into the vent who then turned to replace the vent cover they pulled off. With a nod to the other two, there plan was underway.

“Alright where exactly do we want to go?” Chryssy questioned

“Umm it doesn’t really matter. Just keep us on the 12th floor it will be easier to get back to our room” Alex explained.

“Yea, okay! Oops almost forgot” Ana giggled before reaching into her backpack for a purple marker. She drew a medium sized purple heart next to the vent cover before putting it back in her bag. With that the girls crawled behind Chrissy down the vent shaft. After a minute of crawling they heard voices down below them.

“ **Stay quiet and speak through the link”** they agreed.

Looking through the vent they saw it was an office with a tall dark skinned man talking to three other people.  Continuing there trek they made a left at the next open shaft. Passing over another vent they looked down to see what looked to be an empty laboratory. Stopping here Chryssy attached the magnet to the vent before unscrewing the vent cover. Throwing the rope down the hole she moved over for Alex.

 Scooching past her sister she pulled out the sensor again to hack into the security feed. Looking through the feed she grabbed 20 minutes from it of the room being empty. Once finished the girls began sliding down the rope landing on the lab floor. The girls began looking around. Noticing lab coats in the corner Ana made her way over to them.

“Well Dr. Alex what will we be doing today” She giggled out.

“Well Dr. Ana it appears we are growing Fungi in test tube number one, Algae in number two, and eww mold in number three.” Alex responded while putting on the lab coat Chryssy handed to her.

“How about we speed along the process doctors?” Chryssy asked them while pulling a pair of goggles over her eyes, the other two doing the same.

Walking over to test tube number one Alex read the files they had identifying what type of fungi in the test tube, her sisters doing the same for the mold and algae. Gathering the materials they would need to create a simple microbe to speed along the growing process the girls got to work.

Splitting the microbes into three containers they grabbed droppers to control the amounts they used. They all agreed on adding two drops of the solution into to each test tube. After doing so they waited a minute, with no results. The girls looked at each other in confusion.

“Maybe just two more drops?” Ana questioned.

Nodding the girls added the two more drops.

Waiting 5 more minutes Alex sighed. “Well that was a bust, back to the vents gi-” Before she could finish there was crack. Looking over to the tubes Alex noticed that the fungi was growing wider instead of upward.

“Uh oh” Ana mumbled before two more cracks were heard.

“Well doctors I believe it’s time we made our escape” Chryssy announced.

Agreeing the girls ran back over to the rope hanging from the vent. Chryssy going first, followed by Ana who looked over to the test tubes, and saw that the algae, along with mold, and fungi began over taking the large lab table.

“Eeeppp” she squealed before climbing faster.

Next Alex began climbing making her way into the shaft her sisters were waiting in. Looking down into the room hearing all the glass beakers and test tubes breaking as they fell off the table Alex shrieked “Its AALIIIVVEEE!” As Chrissy replaced the vent cover and returned the rope to her back pack.

Crawling further away from the lab room the girls kept moving. Upon turning left Chryssy froze, causing her sisters to bump into her.

 “Oof, hey what’s the holdup” Alex complained from the back of the group.

“Hey! How’d you guys get in here?” a man questioned, stopping Alex from complaining more.

“We could ask you the same thing mister, aren’t you a little old to be crawling around in the air ducts?” Chrissy returned back to man.

“What? No way, it’s the best way to get around this building” the adult whined back to the girls causing Ana to giggle before Alex shot her a glare.

“Any way I work here, and unless we started hiring toddlers, which I highly doubt, you girls shouldn’t be here.” he continued.

“Actually our uncle works here, we just decided to explore a bit, now exactly who are you?” Alex questioned, all three girls looking at the man suspiciously.

“Oh well Agent Clint Barton at your service” he told them while attempting a hats off bow in the confined space, causing the toddlers to giggle.

“Well then, sir, Agents Miscy, May, and Maddi At your service” Chryssy told the man, telepathically agreeing with her sisters to use their code names.

Clint looked at the three of them before chuckling, “Okay, then Agents where are we headed?”

“Um nowhere really” the girls told him.

“Then how about you guys come help me torcher the new recruits” he asked , leading them down the shaft and pausing at a stash of different Nerf guns, consisting of a bow and arrow, 3 dart guns, a lot of ammo, a marshmallow shooter, and some walkie talkies. Handing a walkie talkie to each girl and putting one in his pocket, He grabbed the marshmallow shooter before allowing the girls to choose their own weapons. Choosing to take the Nerf guns Clint had them follow him a bit further to a vent that was situated over the cafeteria. Having one vent on each side of the room the agent set up each girl over a vent cover before making his way over to his side of the vent.

Pulling out his walkie he began “Hawkeye in place, ready your weapons, aim and fire!”

Darts and marshmallows began pelting the younger agents in the cafeteria who immediately began running for cover. The agents continued their assault the girls aim getting better with each shot. Below the Recruits began using lunch trays as a shield cursing while running to the nearest exit. One agent who was wildly looking around, so much so that he didn’t see the wall until he ran into it, shaking it off, he ran through the double doors.

Giggling madly the girls stopped firing when all the agents had cleared the room.

“Mission accomplished agents, lets head back to headquarters to regroup” Hawkeye told them over the walkie.

Upon getting back to the nest the girls collapsed on top of each other laughing, “Did you see their faces” Ana managed to say.

“That was amazing” Chryssy told the older agent who began returning his weapons back to his stash.

 Checking the time on her tablet Alex began speaking “uh oh, girls I believe it’s time to head back!”

“Head back where?” Clint questioned.

 Back to the room we were placed in. Our uncle should be on his way there soon.” Chryssy explained.

“Yeah it was nice meeting you though, hope to see you around” Ana told him before taking the lead. Getting the tablet from Alex’s hands before bringing up the schematics that lead back to the room. Twisting and turning, avoiding the route that lead pass the destroyed lab room the girls eventually made it back.

 Allowing Alex and Chryssy to climb down first, Ana placed the magnet attached to the rope onto the vent cover before free falling from the duct to bounce on the chair. Looking up to be sure the vent landed in place, she turned off the magnet that immediately dropped to the floor. The girls began resetting the room, placing the chair back up to the table, and putting the magnet in her bag.

Bringing out the sensor, Alex walked over to the window looking over the seconds before the loop ended on the feed, she told the girls the last thing they had been doing in the loop. Getting into place Alex counted to 3 before turning it off. Sighing she made her way back to the table. Following their sister the girls took their seats. Reaching into their bags they pulled out the snacks pepper had packed them. Chatting and giggling the girls waited to finally meet their uncle.

Two minutes to 1, the door opened to reveal a man clad in black leather, and an eye patch. Entering the room he looked over the girls, who upon making his entrance froze at the site of him. Closing the door behind him he looked over to the black board, seeing the girls’ drawings he continued to the other side of the table, the triplets’ eyes following his every move. Sitting down, he sat in the chair opposite of Chryssy’s at the head of the table.

The girls looked to each other before looking back at the man. Ana broke the silence “Are you a pirate?” she questioned.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

Dropping down to the floor Alex looked under the table, before climbing back into her seat.

“Well he doesn’t have a peg leg” she announced.

“I don’t have a hook either” the man responded amusement in his eyes.

“Ahh man! You got my hopes up, I’ve always wanted an Uncle Pirate” Chryssy whined, causing her sisters to giggle in response.

“Right.” The man conceded. “Director Nicholas Fury, but you girls can call me Uncle Nick” the man greeted.

Looking at each other and then shrugginh the girls climbed on to the table causing the man to raise an eyebrow, but stay where he was. In a single line the girls walked down the table stopping in front of their uncle.

“Hi I’m Alex” the girl greeted holding out her hand. Shaking his, she climbed down to take the seat closest to him.

“I’m Chryssy” she said following her sister’s lead shaking his hand and occupying the seat on his other side.

Leaving Ana standing on the table. “And I’m Ana the oldest” she told the man causing the other girls to gasp.

Before they could argue Nick interrupted, saying “It was a C-section if I remember correctly.”

Getting an “Aww man” from Ana who instead of sitting in a chair decided to sit on the table in front of the director.

Cocking her head to the side Ana again broke the silence “So Uncle Nicky what exactly do you do here?” she questioned the man.

Ignoring the name he stood up “How bout I just give you a tour?” the man reproached, before heading to the door.

Scrambling from the table the girls collected their back packs before following the man out the door. Walking down the hall way, he began telling the girls about the different departments, the research division, R&D, and the labs. Turning down another hallway the girls continued to follow their uncle. Ana sped up a little to walk next to the man. Looking up at him  as he continued to face forward. Reaching up she grabbed his hand swinging it between the two of them, causing the girls behind them to giggle. Looking back at them and then down to Ana, Nick shook his head but continued walking.

Looking between each other Alex and Chryssy giggled silently before speeding up. Alex grabbing his free hand and Chryssy latching on to his pant leg. At this all three girls giggled while their uncle ignored the intrusion. Walking through a large entry way Nick paused along with his entourage.

“This is the area where we hold our seminars for the incoming recruits. One should be going on right now.” He explained.  

Indeed there should have been. The seats were filled with young agents talking but there was no one at the podium. “whatWhat the? Girls you three stay here, I need to find the agent who is supposed to be leading this group.” With that he walked back down the hallway they’d just come through.

The sisters began looking around, seeing a door in the corner the girls looked around before running towards it. Opening the door, they noticed it led to a long hallway. Jumping up and down the girls squealed, there was only one thing to do in such a long hallway. Dashing down the hall the girls rolled and tumbled until they reached the end falling into a pile and laughing, before rolling off of each other. Standing up they noticed a curtain on the left, sweeping it open they walked through it looking around only to freeze.

Immediately the room went silent, all the young agents watching the toddlers who took the stage. Continuing forward Alex walked over to the podium where the microphone was situated. Looking back to her sisters for help they ran forward to give her a boost. Grabbing the microphone Alex jumped down. “Ahem, oh wow that’s loud” she spoke into the microphone, eliciting laughs around the room. “We are Dr. Trescott and we shall begin the seminar” she explained.

“All three of you are Dr. Trescott?” one agent asked amused.

Taking the mic from her sister Chryssy responded “Yes we are, now there will be no potty breaks for the next twenty minutes. Some of you may want take notes.” Giving the mic to Ana she began speaking.

“Did all of you receive your I.D. cards?” She questioned. “Good because they give you access to the different sectors of the facility” standing around the mic the girls continued to lead the group.

“Depending on what level clearance you have determines what doors your card unlocks. Now how about we start with some warm up exercises?” Alex asked.

 “Oh good idea Dr. Trescott” Chryssy complimented.

“We shall start in the front and work our way back I want you to say your name, your favorite color, and your favorite animal ok?” Ana asked the crowd.

Looking on the podium shelf Alex found another microphone. Turning it on, she came towards her sisters before looking over to the young agent at the end of the front row. Motioning for him to come up and take the mic, he looked around before shaking his head and walking towards the triplets. Grabbing the mic from her tiny hand, to which she beamed a smile at him, he went back to his seat.

“You may begin” Chrissy told him.

“Okay sure, my name is Leo fitz.” he paused, looking back at the girls who nodded at him in encouragement. “Er my favorite color is blue, and I guess I like Dogs?” The last part coming out as a question.

Passing the mic they continued passing it around making it more than half way through the room before a familiar voice shouted “What the hell is going on here?”

 Looking to the back, the girls saw their uncle entering the room. The girls promptly jumped up before smiling and waving at the frustrated man. “Welcome Director Fury is everything okay?” Alex giggled out.

“Just holding down the fort until you could find our replacements” Chryssy explained just as a man stepped onto the stage.

Ana walked over to him with the mic in her hand “Got them warmed up for you sir, should be smooth sailing” she told him before going back to her sisters who were currently being taken off the stage by their uncle. Stopping in front of him she gave a two finger salute before jumping into his arms giggling.

Rolling his eye he allowed Alex and Chryssy to return to their prior positions of holding his hand and his pant leg. Making their way to the exit the girls waved to the crowd blowing kisses before they finally made it out of the room. Outside of the auditorium Nick told them Pepper had returned to pick them up. At this the girls let out disappointed sighs before heading to the elevator.

As the director began pulling out his I.D. card Alex made grabby hands for it. Sighing he passed it down to the girl who shrieked in excitement before swiping it through the scanner and giving it back. The elevators opened, as a man passed by. He froze, looking down at the girls who looked up at him. “Agents.” He said with a nod. In response the girls laughed waving good bye to Clint.

Reaching the lower level they made their way to Pepper who was patiently waiting in the front lobby. Releasing Nick they ran towards her bringing her into a group hug “Girls, hello, I hope you guys were on your best behavior” she questioned the giggling girls. The three nodded before turning back to their uncle.

“Will we be able to see you again?” Alex questioned. He gave a nod before the girls enveloped him into a group hug, each kissing him on the cheek when he bent down to receive them.

Standing back up he gave a nod to Pepper before making his way back to the elevator. Pausing he turned back to the girls.

“Take care Dr. Trescotts, I look forward to your next visit” he told them receiving salutes from all three girls. Shaking his head with a chuckle he entered the elevator, leaving three grinning girls and a confused Pepper in his wake.


	5. Pepper and the girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Game Day?

 

It was currently movie night in the workshop, something Tony and the girls did together at least twice a week. With the lights dimmed they were situated in the front seat of Tony’s 67 Shelby Cobra, while Jarvis played the Lilo and stitch movie from a projector in the ceiling. Having had a long day Tony had fallen asleep about half way through the movie.

Upon noticing this Ana climbed into her dads lap. Placing her dimpled hands on either side of Tony’s cheeks, she gently squeezed them together causing him to snore. Silently giggling Alex left her bowl of popcorn and moved towards Ana and Tony. Scooting over to allow access to her sister they both got situated on their father, while Chryssy stood beside him.

“Daddy?” Alex whispered to the prone figure.

“Papa?” Ana said along with a poke to the cheek.

Giggling silently the girls continued watching their father sleep. It was relaxing they found, just watching his chest go up and down. Chryssy decided to sit down, having better access to curl her tiny body into Tony’s side.

Alex too, deciding to curl up in Tony’s lap, and almost reflexively his arm curled around her bringing her closer into his chest. And then Ana, upon seeing her sisters so comfortable, made herself a spot on her sleeping father. Sitting on Tony’s leg gave her access to wrap her tiny arms around his midsection, with her head resting on his chest. Hearing his heart beat she let a content sigh before it turned into a yawn. As if contagious the other two began yawning before closing their eyes. And that’s how they fell asleep that night, curled into their father to keep warm.

“Good morning Master Stark, Ms. Alex, Ms. Ana, and Ms. Chryssy” Jarvis announced. “It is currently 9:10 am, the weather outside I-“

Before he could continue Tony interrupted “Yeah, yeah, it’s hot outside, I get it” he grumbled reaching up to wipe a hand down his face. Only his hand was being held against something. Looking down he sees Chryssy wrapped around his arm, using it as a pillow. Chuckling he looked over at his other daughters, Ana still in the position she fell asleep in, only her face was mushed up against Tony’s chest drooling a little with her mouth open. And Alex, he realized, he was actually holding her, keeping her tucked into himself. Smiling, Tony wished he could freeze this moment forever.

However five minutes later his arm was numb and he really needed to go to the bathroom. Trying to get Chryssy to release his arm seemed like the first thing to start with, so he began trying to slide his arm out of her toddler death grip. Only, that made her squeeze it tighter.

“Oh geez, kid, your killing me” he sighed to himself. Ah well he figured, might as well wake them up. So he decided to sing one of the songs the girls got stuck in his head a few weeks ago.

“Fruit salad” he sang and dang it he knew it, because the next second he got a grumbled “yummy, yummy” from Ana.

“Fruit salad” he sang again this time getting a yawning “yummy, yummy” from the same child.

Chuckling he whispered “Good morning Ana bear.”

Rubbing her eyes she looked up with a sleepy smile “Good morning Papa bear” she said before reaching up to kiss her father’s cheek.

Looking down at her still sleeping sisters, she looked up at her dad who nodded. Cheesing she turned first to Alex. Leaning towards her she began placing butterfly kisses on her cheek, causing the sleeping girl to giggle before peaking an eye open. With Ana still leaning in front of her she returned the butterfly kisses, eliciting silent giggles from her smiling sister.

Smiling up at her dad she giggled out “Your hair looks silly.”

“Like a birds nest?” he asked her.

Nodding she reached up to her daddy’s head to muss it up further. Tony Laughed, no wonder people always thought his hair was messy, between him and the girls they were always running their fingers through it.

Crawling over to their last sister they watched her for a while, knowing she was the hardest to wake up. Tony sat back and watched, knowing the girls always woke each other up in the morning. The two girls looked at each other, they loved waking up Chryssy together. So deciding Ana should be on the other side she crawled over her sister.

Silently agreeing Ana and Alex hugged their sister. At first Chryssy liked it letting out a content sigh, but then she started wiggling, causing her sisters to giggle.

“Wakey, wakey” they whispered on either side of her.

Chryssy released her hold on Tony’s arm, causing them to fall over on top of Ana.

“Oof” Ana huffed out, making all three laugh out loud before Chryssy actually opened her eyes.

Looking down at her sister beneath her Chryssy smiled “wakey, wakey huh?” she questioned before she began her tickle assault on the squished child causing her to giggle madly

“Uncle, uncle!! You win you win” she gasped out.

Releasing her sister and standing up Chryssy stretched “Good morning” she sighed out before tackling her dad into a hug.

Chuckling at his daughters Tony returned the hug before exiting the car followed by his line of minions. “Alright what’s the plan for today?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Ohhh can we go swimming today we haven’t been in the pool in forever” Ana squealed. Jumping up and down her sister agreed.

 “I don’t see why not” he answered.

“Can Pepper come? I love it when she plays in the pool with us” Alex told the man.

“Yeah?” Tony questioned.

“Yeah!” all three girls shouted before running up the stairs.

Sitting at the table after breakfast Tony spoke to his A.I. “Jarvis send pepper a pool party invite for me.”

“Will do sir” the British accent replied.

“First things first, teeth brushed and faces washed, we can get your swim suits on after I get your pool stuff out the closet” he told the girls. Lifting them one by one out of their seats, they ran up the stairs to get ready.

Pepper arrived about 2 hours later only to be greeted by Alex whose hair was in two neat pigtails, and Chryssy whose hair hadn’t been fixed from last night.

“Pepper, come on” Alex said while grabbing the woman’s hand allowing Chryssy to take the other. They pulled her into the living room where Tony sat on the couch trying to get a wiggling Ana’s hair into the last ponytail.

“Sit still would ya?” he told the child.

“What’s the point? It’s just going to get messy again!” she said.

“Not the point kid, now stop squirming I almost got it… there see all done” he told Ana who wasn’t listening anymore.

“Pepper you came” the girl shrieked tackling pepper into a hug.

“Pool party with my favorite girls, wouldn’t miss it for the world” she said returning the child’s hug.

 Chryssy ran over to her dad allowing him to fix her long pigtails.

“Alex, Ana, how about we go set our stuff up out by the pool?” Pepper called to the girls grabbing the beach bag from beside Tony on the couch before going out the back door.

Grabbing their towels and sunglasses they ran out to follow Pepper down the pathway that led to the stark’s in ground pool. Pepper sat down at one of the beach chairs on the patio, closely followed by the two younger girls. Grabbing the sun tan lotion out of the beach bag she motioned for Alex to come closer so she could put the lotion on the child.

Ana looked around, loving the view of the water that surrounded their cliff side house. Looking under her chair she found one of the pool toys she made, picking it up before sitting back in her chair to wait for Pepper to call her over.

15 minutes later had all three girls splashing and giggling in the pool. Tony was about to jump in, when his phone started ringing, moving back over to his chair he picked up his phone, taking it out of hearing range upon noticing who was calling him.

“Obi, What can I do for you” he answered.

Obadiah Stane a longtime friend of his father, who assists in the business of Stark Industries. “Tony, look I need you to come down, I have some interested buyers who would love to meet with you” the man told him. “

"Umm now? Can it wait?” Tony questioned.

 “What, it shouldn’t take too long and then you can get back to whatever party you were going to attend” Stane reasoned. 

Though Tony trusted Obi with certain aspects of the company he chose not to tell him about the girls. So along with the media Obi believed he was still every bit of the Playboy he was before the girls came along. “Yeah sure, I guess give me a minute to call up happy” he told the man before hanging up. Taking a deep breath he made his way back over to the pool motioning for pepper to come closer.

Pulling herself up to the side of the pool Pepper looked up at Tony. “Hey Pep, do you mind watching the girls, Obi needs me to come in to meet with some potential shareholders” Tony asked.

Pepper deflated a bit, but smiled up at her boss anyway “Sure thing, but you get to tell the girls!” she said, smile still in place, before dropping underwater.

“Son of a-” he began to mumble

“Daddy are you coming in or what” Ana questioned from the middle of the pool in her lady bug float.

Tony looked between the three girls wondering how to break it to them “Actually baby, I need to run to the office.” He announced.

“What?” the three girls shrieked before paddling their floats closer to Tony. Picking them out one by one he brought them over to a chair.

“We were s’pose to play together Papa bear, you didn’t even get into the pool yet.” A disgruntled Alex told him with a pout that nearly broke his heart.

“I know Aly bear, but I’ll be back before dinner and I’ll bring back whatever you girls want to eat?” he tried, anything to get his daughter to stop looking like a kicked puppy.

The girls looked at each other before pulling out the triple puppy dog face on him. Broken? Ha his heart was torn to shreds.

“And dessert too?” Chryssy asked sulkily.

Stampeded, he meant, by a herd of elephants. These girls were going to be the death of him “Yeah, anything just, please stop with the pouting, you’re killing me here.”

The girls smiled. “Okay daddy” the girls agreed.

“Good” he began walking backwards while still talking to them. “Good okay, I’m glad that’s settled. What do do youyou gals want for dinner?” he asked them.

“Pizza!” They shouted

“Yeah okay I can do that, and dessert?” he questioned

“Surprise us mister, you’re missing pool time so you have a lot to make up for” Chryssy said with her arms crossed. When did his kid get so snarky, he was going to have to tone it down before it was too late.

“Yeah Daddio” Alex agreed. Too late, he thought to himself.

Alex nodded to her sisters, running forward they pushed Tony into the water. “Minions!!” Tony screamed before being submerged. He rose up to find the girls clutching each other while giggling, turning he saw Pepper failing to hide her chuckles at the girls antics.

“Now you’ve been in the pool” Alex told him still giggling.

“Yeah!” Chryssy agreed. “You can go to the meeting now” she told him while wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Oh really?” he asked her, wiping the water from his eye, only to open them to what appeared to be a flying Ana headed straight for him.

“Geronimo” she yelled, canon balling into the water, sending a splash of water towards his face. Picking his daughter up out of the water he put her back into her ladybug float.

“Ha, ha, ha!” he snarked, kissing her on the cheek. Climbing out of the pool he was again tackled, this time into a hug by Chryssy and Alex.

“Come back soon okay papa bear” Chryssy told him.

Tony laughed to himself, first their sour he thought. “Sure thing Chryssy bear. I have an I’m sorry dessert to bring home” he told the girl.  


An hour later Pepper rinsed off the girls before getting them into their beach cover ups. Deciding to have lunch on the deck, the girls sat around the table eating their grilled cheese sandwiches that were cut into heart shapes.

“Okay you win that round” Ana told the older woman. “But if the butterfly told you to pick one, and only one, what would your favorite fruit be” Ana challenged

“If I had to pick only one I think it would be peaches” Pepper told the girl

“Wait hold on between Strawberries and Peaches you’d pick peaches?” Alex asked.

Pepper nodded.

“But Why?” Chryssy shrieked.

Chuckling Pepper told them “Well its easy really, I’m allergic to Strawberries.”

“Ohhh” the girls replied.

Shaking her head at the girls, pepper began to clean up “alright angels finish up so we can head inside, you three can pick a game and we can play in the living room.”

Nodding the girls finished eating their sandwiches before passing there plates to Pepper. Heading inside they ran upstairs to change into dry clothes.

Sitting around the coffee table the girls were ending their 3rd game of clue.

“Hehehe!” Alex chuckled. “I say,” she paused looking deviously around at the group.

 “Oh get on with it” Chryssy giggled out.

 Stroking her pretend beard Alex continued “I say it was Colonel Mustard, in the dining room, WITH THE ROPE! Hahahahaha” she began laughing maniacally, aided by Jarvis who dimmed the lights, leaving a spotlight on Alex. Complete with crackling thunder sound effects.

“What?” Ana shrieked “I was gonna say that” She whined.

Chryssy only groaned before dropping her cards on the table.

“I call for a re-match” Ana continued “there’s just no way! That’s your 3rd win” The girl complained.

Pepper only looked up to the ceiling, wondering how far the girls had Jarvis wrapped around their fingers. Shaking off the thought, she told the girl “okay Alex you picked that game, its Ana’s turn next.”

Shrugging, Alex only smiled up to the ceiling, shouting out a “Thanks Jarvis” before the sound effects stopped and the lights returned to normal.

“You’re quite welcome Ms. Alex” the A.I. responded before going silent.

Returning to the table Ana brought over twister from the game closet.

“Let’s do this” she called out.

“Okay I’ll control the spinner you girls stand on one side of the mat so we can get started.” Said Pepper.

Nodding the girls began their game. An hour later Pepper sat in awe, not one girl had yet to fall over, which in itself was no small feat, being that the girls were somehow in a complex formation tangled around each other.

“Um girls? How long does this game usually last?” she questioned.

“Oh we can go for hours” Alex grunted out from her upside down positon.

“Yeah until Ana starts cheating” Chryssy added.

“What I do not!” Ana gasped out from beneath her sisters.

“Oh yeah? What do you call it when you start tickling people?” Alex giggled out.

“Well this game takes forever, if I don’t tickle you guys you’ll never fall down” Ana told her sister, who only laughed harder at her response.

“Ana that’s cheating” Pepper chuckled from her seat on the couch.

“Oh” Ana responded simply, causing Chryssy to join Alex in her giggling episode. Smirking at her still giggling sisters she began her tickle assault from her position beneath the two.

“Wahhh Ana no” Alex breathed out before maneuvering her body away from Ana, untangling herself easily from what Pepper thought was a complex knot.

Losing the support of her sister Chryssy barely managed to tumble out of her position so she wouldn’t fall on Ana, who stayed in position throughout the whole ordeal.

“Yippee I win!!” Ana shrieked straightening herself out before jumping up and down.

“Yeah, yeah” Alex grumbled.

“Alright Chryssy it looks like it’s your turn to pick a game.” Pepper announced while she packed up the twister game before putting it back into the game closet.

Pepper should have known better. If it were any other set of three year olds she would have suggested playing a different game. But here they were two hours into the game, tension was running high and she had already been sent to jail 5 times.

“The hell?” She thought to herself.

They were currently immersed in the Disney version of monopoly. Ana had one castle on each of her six properties, Chryssy had 2 castles on one property, and two cottages on the other seven, and Alex bought out all the spaces on the high end side of the game with a castle and a cottage on each space. Yup pepper would rather stay in jail, she couldn’t afford to land on any of the girls’ spaces.

“Your roll, darling sestra” Chryssy said to Ana.

Nodding she rolled the die getting a six, moving her Alice game piece to the proper location, giggling when she missed one of Chryssy’s properties by one space.

“Dang it, so close” Chryssy groaned.

Before Alex could take her turn they heard the door opening.

“Welcome home sir” Jarvis greeted.

And with that the girls jumped up, knocking the pieces off of their positions on the board, before running to the door.

“Daddy” they screamed.

“Oh thank God” Pepper sighed, being that her turn would have been after Alex’s.

“Ms. Potts might I suggest you pack up the game, the girls could easily come back and fix the board pieces” Jarvis offered.

“Thanks Jarvis!” Pepper replied before quickly collecting all the money and pieces to clean up the game.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

After dinner, which consisted of Hawaiian style pizza for the girls and a sausage supreme for Pepper and Tony the girls changed into their animal themed footie pajamas. A pink frog themed set for Ana, a yellow duck for Chryssy, and a Purple kitten set for Alex. All of which were equipped with a hood with said animals’ eyes, and ears that were currently pulled over the girls heads, and the tail to match.

Pepper nearly squealed at the sight of the triplets coming down the stairs for their promised dessert.

True to his word, Tony had brought home an “I’m sorry dessert” for the girls which was,

“Chocolate dipped cannoli’s!” Alex shrieked before her and her sister ran to the kitchen, slipping on the smooth floor because of the feet of their pjs.

“Oof” they landed in a mess of giggling limbs before straightening themselves out, reaching up for Tony to put them back in their chairs. Pepper nearly died at how cute the scene was so she asked Jarvis to send her the video of it happening. No big deal. Leaving for the night Pepper said her goodbyes leaving Tony alone with the girls.

“Kay, minions I think it’s time to march up to bed” Tony announced.

“Aww” the girls groaned before leading the way up stairs.

Tucking them all in Tony began to say goodnight only to be cut off by Ana .

“Wait!!! Aren’t you going to read us a story?” she shrieked

“Yeah, please daddy?” Chryssy begged before all three turned to him with puppy dog eyes for the second time that day.

“Yeah okay” he agreed “but I get to pick the story” Tony wagered. The girls shrugged before getting comfy in their bed.

Grabbing the Hobbit from their bookshelf Tony began the story, thinking the girls would fall asleep soon anyway. Only he was almost half way through the story before he realized they were still awake. Damn you Tolkien he thought to himself, He should have known better.

“Ok minions look, you’re tired, I’m tired how bout we finish this one tomorrow” Tony asked the girls.

“But dad what happens to Bilbo?” Alex yawned out.

 “Are the dwarves going to save him from the trolls?” Chryssy managed to grumble out while rubbing her eyes to keep them open.

“Gandalf comes back right? He can’t just leave the dwarves in the middle of an adventure!!” Ana finished barely keeping her eyes open.

“You’ll find out tomorrow” Tony told them before kissing them each on the forehead. “Bonne nuit, minions!”

“Bonne nuit daddy.” the girls murmured as Tony exited the room, closing the door behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!


	6. The snowy sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy a fresh chapter on me!

The girls were currently playing tea party in their room.

“Could you pass the muffins dear Chryssandra” Alex asked in her take of a British accent.

Passing her the muffins she turned to Ana “Would you like some more tea Anastasia?” Eliciting giggles from her sister.

“Why thank you Chryssandra.” Ana replied.

“How about it, Alexandria? Can I pour you some more tea” Chryssy asked.

“Yes thank you dear sister, while you’re at it, I believe sir wellington bear could use a refill.” Chryssy agreed, pouring pretend tea into the cup sitting in front of a bear with a monocle and a top hat.

Letting himself in Rhodes made his way through the Stark household.

“Good evening Colonel Rhodes, welcome back.” Jarvis told the man

“Good to be back Jarvis.” He responded making his way into the living room, where he finds pepper curled up on the couch doing paper work. “Working hard?” he questioned

“Hardly working.” Pepper chuckled before standing to give Rhodey a hug.

“Where’s Tony?” the man questioned.

“In his workshop. Where else?” she told him, before taking her place back on the couch.

 Going down the stairs Rhodey entered the workshop. “What’s with all the quiet? You Starks are always raising hell somewhere!” he said in greeting.

“Rhodey hey!! Jarvis didn’t tell me you came in.” He greeted.

Hugging the man he responded. “Actually I wanted to surprise the girls, I thought they’d be with you.”

Tony chuckled “Last I checked they were playing up in their room”.

Looking over to the intercom button he looked to Tony for approval, getting a “go for it” he pressed the button next to the word minions “Lieutenant James Rhodes, reporting for duty” he spoke into the mic. There was a pause.

The girls froze mid sip of their pretend tea, before jumping from the table and running to the wall in their room that held their intercom button, pressing the button labeled The Den

“UNCLE RHODEY!” They screamed into the com before running over to a hatch in the wall. Lifting it up by the handle the girls jumped into the hole in the wall, that led to a sliding board that went directly to the workshop.

Back in the workshop Tony chuckled, shaking his head he walked over to the side of the room where there was a miniature foam block pit. Lifting up the hatch on the wall above the pit to reveal the bottom of a slide, after latching it in place he called up “ALL SYSTEMS GO!” Seconds later there were echoes of shrieks and giggles as one by one the girls came down the slide.  Shooting out first was a laughing Alex, landing in the pit feet first.

Pulling her out he turned back to the slide “Tally ho” he called up, a shrieking Ana came down next on her stomach, landing head first into the ball pit. Reaching down he picked Ana out of the pit by her feet, getting giggles from the upside down girl.

Setting her on her feet he turned back to the slide yelling “Thunderbirds are go” he waited before there was an echoed “oof” then there was a loud shout of “Yahoooo” shooting out backwards was Chryssy, who completed her descent with a backward roll to land feet first into the pit.

“I’ll give it a 7, you were a bit shaky on the landing” Tony said with a chuckle, before pulling her out of the pit.

Immediately after getting pulled out of the pit the girls ran over to tackle their uncle into a hug. “We missed you so much!!” Alex told the man.

“You did? How much?” Rhodey questioned

“We missed you this much” Ana said, as her, Chrissy, and Alex’s arms spread out wide for Rhodey to pick them up all together causing them to wrap their arms around him any way they could

“That much? That much?” Rhodey asked while spinning around with the girls in his arms “Impossible” he challenged

“Nuh uh” the girls shrieked before placing kisses over his face “This much!” they said between kisses. “And this much,” they continued, giggling when Rhodey put them down.

“Wow you girls have gotten so big, that last time I saw you, you were only this big!” he motioned with his hand about an inch off the floor.

“What? No we weren’t” they giggled out.  

Later they settled around the kitchen table eating Chinese food. “So Uncle Rhodey how long are you staying?” Chryssy asked the man.

“Actually girls Rhodey will be with us for the week” Tony announced

“He will?” the girls shrieked.

 The same time Rhodey questioned “I will?”

“Yup, and tomorrow we leave for Aspen!”  

“What?” they all shrieked.

The next day had them on plane to Aspen the girls eagerly looking out the window, Happy sleeping in the back of the plane. Pepper sat wondering how she got dragged into this. While Rhodey sat with Tony still trying to explain why he couldn’t go to Aspen.

“Take off a load Rhodes, trust me you needed this” Tony explained

“Look Tony I can’t!” Rhodey shot back.

“Look around Rhodey you’re already on the plane!” Tony told the man “Besides look at the girls!”  Right on cue the girls turned their excited eyes on the Colonel, who smiled back in response.

“Ah, hell Stark, just know I’m gonna kill you on those slopes” Rhodes let out with a sigh

“Ayy, there he is! Good let go of that gloom cloud you were carrying it was giving us turbulence” Tony joked.

Owning a cabin at St Regis, Tony easily had the rooms sorted, and the bags dropped off. Changing into clothes for the slopes and dropping the girls at a beginners snowboarding class.

“Snow! So much snow!” Shrieked Ana, while the girls headed over to a group where the instructor was explaining how to navigate on the board.

Following the movements the girls caught on pretty fast. “Bob and weave! Bob and weave!” Ana chanted while pretending to snow board, being that they were on flat ground, next to her Alex was jumping and twisting, practicing her turns.

“How long do we have to stay here, I want to get to the slopes” Chryssy whined.

Just as the instructor called out “Ok guys let’s go test out what we learned!”

Arriving at their destination the girls were ready, pulling their goggles down over their eyes they got into position.

“Ready!” Alex started.

“Set!” Chryssy continued, at this Ana took off.

 “GO” she squealed.

“Cheater” the other two screamed before taking off after their sister.

 “It’s not cheating” she shouted behind her while giggling.

Gaining speed the other two caught up to Ana racing down the bunny slope. All too soon they made it to the bottom jerking to a stop.

“Eeeppp that was so much fun!!” Alex shouted stepping off her snowboard, her sisters doing the same.

“Can we do it again?” Chryssy whined, turning to look back up the slope they just came down.

“Yeah but there’s gotta be an easier way to get up there.” Ana replied. Looking around the girls saw the entrance to the ski lift before making their way over to it.

Getting in line they waited for their turn, as it came time for them to get on, the person manning the lift bent down to tie his shoe. Hopping on together the girls began their ascent just as the operator turned back around.

Five minutes later Alex got suspicious. “Um guys? It looks like we’re a bit higher up then we were the first time”

“Hmm? What do yo- oh wow” Ana cut off upon seeing how far up the mountain they were going.

“Oh well just remember to bend your knees” Chryssy giggled out.

Shrugging they waited. Upon their seat turning around the corner of the lift the girls hopped off.

“All right round two see you at the bottom!” Chryssy yelled behind her.

“What no fair!” Ana shrieked before going down the mountain, closely followed by Alex.  

Tony and Rhodey made their way back over to where they’d dropped off the girls. Upon not seeing the girls they made their way over to the instructor. “S’cuse me yeah hi, where are my kids?” Tony questioned

“Uh they should be over, oh goodness I don’t see them” the woman responded

“You don’t say?” Tony snarked back.

“Weren’t you suppose to keep an eye on them?” Rhodey questioned the woman.

“Well, yes, they were here the last time I checked.” She answered.

“And how long ago was that?” Rhodes said with a scowl.

“Um maybe 5, 10 minutes ago” she answered obliviously.

“Why yo-” Tony began only to be stopped by Rhodey.

“Er Tony you’re going to want to see this.” He said in a wary voice.

“See wha- oh my God!” Tony gaped.

Speeding down the hill weaving in and out of other skiers were his giggling toddlers. Chuckling beside him Rhodey began “whelp that answers that question!”

“They’re naturals!” The woman said from beside the two men, earning a glare in return.

Following the girls down with their eyes they watched the pink green and red blurs speed pass everyone, looking to be in a sort of race with each other. As they got closer to the bottom Rhodey and Tony moved forward to intercept them. The girls came to a stop spewing snow everywhere.

“Woo hoo that was cra- Oh hi daddy uncle Rhodey lovely day where having, though I think there’s snow in the forecast” Ana rambled off.

“What were you girls thinking” Tony groaned.

The girls looked at each other and then turned back to Tony before speaking all at once.

“Well first we went down the bunny slope!” Alex started. 

“Yeah and then Chryssy was all Lets do that again” Ana continued.

“Right but then Ana was like, ‘there has to be a faster way’, because we have little legs and it would have taken forever to get back to where we were!” Chryssy prattled.

“Right so then we saw the ski lift thinking that it would let us off there” Alex picked up.

“But then half way up we noticed we were going higher up then where we originally started!” Chryssy told them.

“And then Chryssy was all, ‘don’t forget to bend your knees’, and then we hopped down and slid down the slope which was completely awesome by the way. And then you were all, ‘what were you girls thinking’, and I was li-” she stopped talking when Alex nudged her, looking down she lightly kicked up snow with her feet “You aren’t mad, are you daddy?” Ana muttered out.

Again Tony groaned running his hand forward through his hair before down his face. “Nooo, I’m not mad, just try not to give me gray hairs okay, it’s a vacation, stress free environment, remember.”

Pouting cutely up at their dad they waited.

“Fine, fine, just stop looking at me like that, why am I the only one who gets that look?  Jeez we can get hot chocolate, you three must be cold?” Tony reasoned before the girls nodded.

“Probably because you’re the only one who falls for it” Rhodey mumbled.

“You just watch Rhodes, none of your military training can prepare you for the triple puppy pout, mark my words” he told his best friend, getting giggles from the girls.

The five made their way towards the lodge to get their drinks and sit by the fire, Ana and Chryssy taking Tony’s hand while Alex grabbed Rhodey’s who promptly began swinging their intertwined hands.

The next day the family went tubing, dragging Happy along if only to hear him screaming down the mountain. Because of the girls’ height they needed to be accompanied by at least one adult when tubing down the slope. So switching back and forth Pepper, Tony, and Rhodey went down with Chryssy Ana and Alex, respectively. Each adult switching off at the bottom. At one point all three girls dragged Uncle Happy up to ride with them, giggling and shrieking while he turned an odd shade of green.

The girls jumped out, while he rolled out, muttering “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Walk it off Hogan” Tony called after the crawling man.

That night they all fell into bed, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.  

After hitting the slopes again the next afternoon they decided to stay indoors that night. This had them sitting by the fire roasting marshmallows. Pepper looked over to check on the girls only to see them covered in marshmallows and chocolate. “Oh my-girls what happened?”

At this the girls froze except for Ana who continued to messily eat her s’more. “I don’t know about you guys but this is a lot more complicated than it looks, but it’s really goo- why’d you stop eating” she questioned after seeing her frozen sisters.

The four adults chuckled.

Tony stood. “I’ll get the bath water ready.” he announced.

“Ooooh with lots of bubbles?” Ana questioned aided by her sisters hopeful expressions.

“Sure thing minions, sure thing” He said as he made his way up the stairs.

 “All right girls I think you’ve had enough.” Pepper told them.

“Awwww but Pepper” Alex whined.

“We only had like, hm well I lost count” Chryssy tried to explain

“But wahhh they’re just so! Oh fine! Good bye oohey gooey goodness!!” Ana conceded.

“We can do it again some other time girls, I just meant for tonight” Pepper explained.

“Oh!” the girls chirped

“Well that’s alright then!” Ana Finished.

“Girls bubble baths ready” Tony called down. The girls promptly jumped up and made their way upstairs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wanted to go to aspen!! It's like a dream vacation of mines!!


	7. when boredom attacks

“Hey Uncle Nicky? The next time we see you, can you teach us that thing you were talking about?” questioned Alex.

“I don’t know if you three can handle that yet” Nick told them wryly.

Outraged Chryssy shouted into the receiver. “What of course we can, please you have to!”

“I don’t know Kid we’ll see, but you three behave alright? I have to go.” He said.

“Aye, Aye Uncle Jack” the three giggled into the phone.”

 “I am going to kill your father!” Was mumbled over the line before there was a resounding click of the receiver.

Hanging up the phone Ana turned to her sisters. “Yeah about daddy.”

“I thinks it time” announced Alex.

“Okay.” Chryssy agreed. “But we need a plan!”

 Looking up to the ceiling, thinking it was more reasonable to talk to him that way, Alex brought Jarvis into the conversation. “Hey Jarvis what time is papa’s next meeting?”

“5 o’clock miss Alex.” Jarvis answered.

“Right okay so we have about 4 hours to come up with a plan, let’s get started” she told them.

Two hours later had Alex coming down the stairs and pushing open the doors to the workshop, where she found her dad working on some type of engine. “Hi daddy!” she greeted.

Looking up from the engine Tony turned in his chair. “What’s up Ali-cat?, Wwhat brings you down to the lair?” he questioned as she made her way over to sit in his lap. Turning back to the engine they both studied it.

“Nothing really, just checking on you.” she answered easily.

Tony paused before continuing to work. “Checking on me? Minion I don’t think that’s how this whole parent child relationship works kid.” He countered with a chuckle.

Alex only shrugged “Us Stark's have to look out for each other.” Alex turned in his lap causing Tony to look down at her in confusion. “Right?” she questioned

“What? Of course we do Alex, wha-” Before Tony could question his daughter there was the sound of glass breaking before identical shouts of. “SHE DID IT!” Was heard from upstairs.

Tony looked up at the ceiling, a habit he picked up from the girls, “Jarvis?”

“It appears Miss Chryssy and Miss Ana have broken a Vase while playing." There was a pause. "Leap frog sir.”

“Leap frog?” he questioned looking down at Alex, who only shrugged

“Who knows Daddio?”

“Right.” he said before standing up and sitting Alex in his chair. “Be right back” Tony announced before making his way up and out of the workshop.

 After hearing the door closed the three year old sighed “Leap frog sir.” She mimicked. “Really Jarvis?”

“My apologies miss, but your sisters were having a hard time coming up with a game that would inevitably break something.”

“How about a pillow fight next time?” Alex giggled out.

“Noted.” “He responded. “‘Perhaps you should remember why you are down here before Sir returns?” the A.I. reminded.

“Oh right sorry Jar! Now let’s see. When’s the last time he drank some of his coffee?” Alex questioned while touching his cup to check the temperature.

“He hasn’t touched the coffee since he brought it down, however the green drink to the left, he should be finishing when he comes back down.” Offered Jarvis.

“Well ok then.” Alex agreed before unscrewing the lid to the water bottle with green liquid in it. Removing a small box from her pocket she opened it to reveal a tiny circular device, dropping it into the cup Alex screwed the lid back on before shaking up the drink. Placing it back where she found it, she turned the chair around to see her father coming back down the stairs.  As he made his way into the workshop she exited the chair.

“Hey kid where you going?” He asked.

“Hm? Oh I was going to go play?” she answered before skipping out of the room.

Making her way to her sisters who were currently in their bedroom Alex joined them on the bed.

“So did you do it?” Questioned Ana.

“Yup, Jarvis is going to let us know when the tracking device is online.” Alex answered.

“May I ask why you three felt the need to place a tracking device inside your father?” The British A.I. questioned.

The girls looked up to Jarvis. “Well! He’s always going on business trips, we just wanted to be able to check up on him, and technically Jar, you will be monitoring him.” Chryssy responded.

“Yeah and it’s not like you have to watch him all the time, it’s just in case of an emergency.” Continued Alex.

“So how often do you think we have to do this” Ana asked.

“Well the device you girls created should stick to whatever it latches onto, so unless he surgically removes it, it should stay there for about five years.” He answered

“Well then.” Huffed Chryssy. “That takes care of that.”

 

The triplets were lying in the middle of the living room floor looking up to the ceiling. Chryssy blew out a sigh, while her two sisters groaned. “Well what do you want to play?” she asked.

“Ohhh how about twister?” Ana asked excitedly.

“NO!” Chryssy and Alex shouted simultaneously.

Ana sat up and looked around surprised “What? Why not?”

“Because you cheat.” Alex told her.

At this Ana gasped holding a hand to her chest in mock outrage “I do not. Tell them Jarvis!”

The girls waited for the voice to reply. After a minute of no response Alex and Chryssy started giggling

“Jarvis? Oh come on, when was the last time I cheated?” she asked.

To this the disembodied voice responded.

“Yesterday 12:45 in the afternoon, Foul play was detected when Anastasia Trescott pretended to sneeze directly into Miss Alex’s face who immediately thereafter fell on top of Miss Chryssy, shall I continue Miss Ana?” The A.I. responded with ease.

“YOU WHAT?” Alex shrieked.

“Thanks a lot Jar!” Ana whined.

“Anytime.” he replied before once again going silent, causing all three girls to burst into giggles.

Catching their breath the girls laid back down. “Come on there’s got to be something we can do!” Chryssy groaned out, waving her arms wildly in the air.

At that moment Tony came up from the workshop. “Hey girls!, wait what’s up with this?, don’t tell me you three are bored?” He questioned.

“Well there’s nothing to do!!” Ana shrieked.

Tony made his way over to the couch, immediately followed by the three girls who curled up in various positions beside him. “You mean my three toddler geniuses can’t find anything to do in this house?” he queried.

“That’s what it seems like!” responded Chryssy.

 “Will you play with us papa bear?” Questioned Ana from her lying position over Tony’s lap. She was currently draped over his knee as he swayed it back and forth.

“Yea daddy let’s do something!” Agreed Alex who was drawing circles with her finger in Tony’s palm. All three looked up to him hopefully awaiting his response.

“Yeah sure I don’t see why not. How are the schematics coming for your treehouse?” He asked.

“Jarvis?” Chryssy called up.

““The schematics have been completed Sir, all materials are currently being shipped in from various parts of the world. They should all be here by next week” He answered.

“Right.” Amended Tony. “We could go swimming?”

Just as he said that, there was a loud crack of thunder before lightning lit up the sky.

“It’s been raining all day!!!” Whined Chryssy.

“Okay, okay! He said. “How about hide and go seek?”

There were three gasp before “Not it!!” was shouted by Tony, Chryssy, and Alex.

“Dang it!” cried a too late Ana. “Oh fine!” And with that she began counting.

The other three Stark's immediately jumped up to hide, albeit Tony who after removing a giggling Ana from his lap, walked off to find his hiding space.

After reaching 50 Ana called out “Ready or not hear I come!!” Electing to first look on the level she was on Ana made her way through the house starting in the kitchen. Approaching the lower cabinets she opened each one with an “AHA!” Only to find it empty except for the pots and pans stored there. After checking the hall closet only to find it empty as well, she let out a loud sigh.

Ana looked up. “Hey Jarvis can you give me a hint?” she asked with a pout.

“Miss Ana I do not think that would b-” he started only to be cut off. 

“Plleeeeeaassseeeee Jarvis??” there was a pause, and if A.I.’s could sigh Jarvis would have “They are all currently upstairs Miss Ana.”

“But Jarvis which room upstairs?” the three year old was answered with silence “Jarvis?” She called out. With a pout she made her way to the stairs, dramatically climbing each one “So many stairs, I’ll never make it to the top” she wailed, pausing on the middle stair to let out another huff, before she continued her ascent. “Where could they be?” she shouted once she reached the top step. Checking the hall closet near the steps first, Ana began her hunt. Ten minutes later she gave up. Going back downstairs she laid down on the couch after turning on the T.V.

Upstairs the three were cramping up, they thought it best to hide together because Ana got bored easily.

“Do you think she’s still looking?” questioned Chryssy.

“Depends on how long it’s been.” replied Alex.

“Jarvis where’s Ana?” Asked Tony.

“Ms. Ana is currently in the living room.” Jarvis replied.

“Is she still looking for us?” Chryssy asked with a sigh.

“Ms. Ana is currently watching The Big Comfy Couch.” He told them.

 “It’s on?” Alex Shrieked, before disentangling herself from Chryssy and Tony and exiting their hiding spot in the den closet, closely followed by her sister.

“Game over.” Mumbled Tony before he too climbed out of the closet and stretched from his prolonged hunched over position.

To avoid another day of boredom, Tony thought it might be time to get the girls into different activities.

“Oh maybe Gymnastics, have you seen those three playing twister?” queried Pepper.

“I have.” Tony allowed. But he knew it needed to be something more. Gymnastics would only keep them busy for so long and if he was going to hire a teacher there needed to be other aspects of the lessons.

“Might I suggest something Sir?” the A.I. began.

“Sure, what cha go Jarvis?” Tony asked,

“I suggest Cirque du soleil.” He told them.

“Oh I didn’t even think of that!” Pepper said with a gasp.

“Not bad Jarvis.” Tony mumbled. “Not bad at all actually.”

And so it began, three time a week the girls would have private lessons at a studio, to the girls delight. Taught by an older woman.

 “My name is Oksana Rogov but you may call me Babulya.” She greeted.

Not really choosing a specific area to study, the woman began teaching them a range of things

“To do one you must know the other, this is how you learn, khorosho?”

 “Da” the girls agreed, before they began.

At home the girls would trapeze around the house, to the point that Tony had to turn one of the larger spare rooms into a home studio for the girls where they could practice their routines. The things he did in the name of boredom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so???? What did you think? This chapter was kind of short sorry. Most of the russian is from google translate. I chose to use the pronunciation spelling rather than actual Russian letters. But tell me your thoughts! I'll wait.   
>  Babuyla- Grandmother  
> Khorosho- Alright/Good  
> Da- yes  
> if it doesn't make sense essentially I meant. she asked yes? and the girls response is Yes, in turn.


	8. Family outings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Just a family hiking trip" They said "nothing unexpected" They said.  
> In my defense, You're the one who said that.

Together on a family outing, the family sat situated in Rhodey's Land Rover defender. With Rhodey in the driver seat, and Tony as his co-pilot, the girls were situated in the middle, while Pepper and Happy we're sat in the rear.

"I don't see why I couldn't drive." grumbled the currently off duty chauffeur.

"Not this Hogan, This is my baby." Rhodey responded.

“Then wake me when we get there.” He said before nodding off.

The four Starks were enwrapped in a rousing game of I spy. The rest of the group would have joined in, if it weren't for how they were playing the game.

“I spied with my little eye something purple.” Ana announced.

“Was it the car we passed an hour ago?” Chryssy guessed.

“Nope!” Ana responded.

“Was it that sketchy gas station we stopped at to refuel?” Tony asked from the front seat, giving Rhodes a pointed look.

Ana only giggled "Nope.”

“Ooh I know! Was it that billboard we passed with the purple writing?” Questioned Alex, who was currently in the lead.

"Yes!” shrieked Ana before she high fived her sister.

Rhodey whistled appreciatively. “What I could do with an eidetic memory.” 

"It doesn't help him remember his meetings, that's for sure!" added Pepper from the back seat, getting laughs from the rest of the car.

A few minutes later Rhodey made a right turn onto a dirt road.

“She handles like a dream." Complimented Tony.

"Haven't met a terrain she can't handle.” He said before pulling into a parking area.

The two helped the triplets out of their seats before Pepper and Happy exited the vehicle.

“Let's go hiking!" yelled out the girls with a tiny fist pump into the air. The girls were carrying their canteens strapped on with over the shoulder straps, while the adults carried the rest of the supplies in backpacks as well as folded down harnesses in case the girls got tired during the hike.

The harnesses came in handy an hour later when the girls became more interested in the sights rather than where they were walking. Another two hours had them setting up a picnic blanket in the spot they chose to have lunch.

Finished eating, the girls stood up. "Where do you think you three are going?" questioned Tony.

“Exploring!" the three shrieked out excitedly.

 "Don't go too far." Pepper warned.

"Alright!” They agreed before heading off to the open field.

“Not it!” yelled Chryssy and Alex.

“Dang it!” Mumbled a too late Ana. “Fine but you better start running.” She yelled as she started their game of tag.

“You're it!” she huffed out.

As she tagged Chryssy, Ana went to turn around and run in the opposite direction when she slipped down a trench pulling Chryssy with her, both going down with a startled yelp.

"Chryssy! Ana!" Alex called out before following suit, landing with an “oof."

“What happe-" she was cut off.

“Shhh! don't move." Chryssy whispered.

"What?" Alex whispered back, only to look up and see a mountain lion situated in front of them.

The four of them sat frozen neither making a sound, until the cougar made its move. Slowly, it made its way towards them, as if not to scare them off. She first moved towards Ana, moving as if to sniff her only to press her nose to her forehead.

"What is it doing?" She panic whispered to her sisters, still not moving, as the animal did the same to the other two.

"Don't come any closer, there is a bear trap right in front of you.” Hearing this the girls jumped back landing in a heap on top of each other. "Wahhh" wailed the three.

"How'd you see that from behind us Alex?" Chryssy asked as they untangled themselves from each other.

“She didn't. I did." The voice answered.

"Eeeppp!” They shrieked startled.

“Please tell me you said that!" Whispered Ana to Chryssy.

“Again that was me.” Hearing this the triplets looked up to the cougar. “I gave you three a gift, move quickly there isn't much time. My Cubs, I can't protect them. We are being hunted by poachers and I can't look after them while I defend them. Please humans take care of them.” She pleaded.

“Wait who are you?” Ana asked still whispering.

“I am Niara, and those are my four Cubs. Take them and run, I will hold them off.” She said as she leapt between trees before disappearing in the foliage.

The girls sat stunned for five seconds longer before moving towards the Cubs carefully avoiding the bear trap, meant for the mountain lions. Approaching the four Cubs the girls carefully picked them up as they moved away from the location.

“Let’s go this way, I think it goes back to where we were playing.” Alex told them.

As they ran they could here parts of the fight going on. A growl was heard seconds before a gun shot rang out causing the girls to scream, though they continued running faster with tears blurring their vision. Minutes later they burst out of the underbrush clutching the Cubs as they collapsed on the ground.

“Alex, Ana, Chryssy!” Tony called out.

“Over here” Alex cried out upon hearing her dad’s voice.

Tony spun around before he and the rest of the group jogged over to the girls. “We've been looking for you three." Tony called as he ran over.

“I said to stay close!!” Pepper scolded as the group got closer. “What are those?" Pepper asked. Pausing as she looked over the girls covered in dirt, and clutching something fury to their chest, though Ana appeared to be holding two.

The girls only cried harder in response, running over to Tony. “Girls what in the world is?" he started before he cut off as they picked up on the sound of footsteps coming from the area the girls had come from. The four adults stepped in front of the crying toddlers as five men stepped out from the trees, carrying back packs, ammo, and guns in their hands. The fifth appeared to be carrying extra weight as he lagged behind.

“Do I want to know what you five are doing suited up like that, on a public hiking trail?" questioned Rhodes.

"None ah yer damn business!" the one in the Front responded.

Rhodey sighed, sharing a look with Tony. "It is now, Colonel James Rhodes, drop the weapons and the sack, you are under arrest for hunti-, what is it you were hunting?” He questioned.

"We weren't hunt-" One of them started to retort.

“Cougars!” the girls shrieked from behind Tony, cutting off the man.

“They were hunting Niara!!” Ana cried out.

“Shut yer mouth!" The front man exclaimed only to be caught by Rhodey’s glare.

“What's in the sack?” Rhodey asked, stepping forward.

The men made no move to show him, until the front man spoke again "Aw hell show the man!" He said as he put his gun to the ground.

Seeing this the others followed his lead. The last man slowly stepping forward to show him the sack.

Seeing the contents, Rhodey shuddered before groaning. "Pepper I think you should take the girls back to the car." He cautioned as he tossed her the car keys. Turning back towards the men he continued. "You five are under arrest for hunting a protected species as well as reckless endangerment!"

“What?!" The men shrieked.

"You do realize you were chasing after three toddlers with loaded weapons?"

From the distance Chryssy shouted "Bear trap!!!!"

"Yeah we almost fell in a bear trap" Alex added before continuing behind Pepper.

“A bear trap?" Tony yelled outraged, while moving towards the men.

"You have no proof it's ours" the man responded taking a step back to distance himself.

“Oh we will!” Tony retorted, a viscous look on his face.

“Why don't you go with the girls? Hogan and I will handle this.” Rhodey said putting a firm hand on Tony's arm.

Tony brushed it off before turning around and heading to the car.

Pulling out his phone Rhodey made calls to the state troopers, pulling strings to get the situation handled. “A nice family outing my ass." the Colonel mumbled

“You should have let me drive!” Happy added, before they began directing the men to put their hands up and to get on the ground.

Heading back to the car, Tony tried to calm himself remembering the state his girls were in. “They faced a cougar?” He thought to himself. Oh god they were never going hiking again. Tony paused in his steps, weren't they holding something? Quickening his pace he saw the car up ahead and Pepper trying and failing to get the girls to put something down.

"Hey whoa, girls what is going on?" he asked to clarify.

"Oh thank goodness!” Pepper said sighing out in relief. “You can handle this, I'm going to pack up our stuff." she announced before leaving.

Turning to his three toddlers he too sighed. "Okay what happened?"

After the girls' explanation Tony thought it over. "I don’t think we can keep them." Their dad told them.

"What?" Chryssy shrieked.

"But why not?" Alex asked.

"Girls there are laws and rules and regulations an-" He tried to explain.

Ana cut him off. “But papa bear, we promised their mama!" The little girl told him, sending him a look that he knew all too well. Together the triplets, along with the Cubs, gave Tony puppy dog eyes.

"Ah man." Tony caved pulling a hand through his sweaty hair. "We'll figure something out." He said before he loaded the seven into the car.

 

Back at the lab Tony sat in his workshop along with the girls on the floor surrounding the four sleeping Cubs nestled in a heap of blankets, courtesy of the triplets.

"Jarvis, bio scan?" Tony queried.

"Bio scan complete. Species: Mountain lions, also called cougars, Pumas, or Panthers. There are three males, and one female, there are a few details my system cannot pick up on. They have the appearance of mountain lions, as I’ve said, but can only be described as a more evolved form, loosely speaking of course." He answered.

"Interesting." Tony responded.

"Yeah because Niara could talk." Alex added.

"And she gave us kisses on the forehead." Ana reminded.

"Did she talk before she kissed you?" Asked Tony.

"Um no, not until after." Answered Alex.

"Can you talk to the cubs?" He asked.

"A little but it's more of a feeling." she explained.

“What do you mean by feeling?" He pushed.

"Like I can feel they're sad, and they miss their mommy, but they're also excited to be with us, that kind of thing." Chryssy explained. “Oh and Niara! She said she gave us a gift!!" Chryssy added as an afterthought.

"Arms out ladies" Tony ordered upon hearing this information.

The girls giggled in response. "Beam me up Scotty!" the girls chorused, as Jarvis added a blue light effect to his usually invisible scan.

"The girls' brain wave activity seems to have been altered slightly. Enhanced in the same areas as the cubs." After running a few more test the A.I found the triplets hearing range had increased along with their vision, and agility.

"Keep an eye on their health levels, make sure there are no negative effects the magical lion forgot to mention." Tony ordered.

"I already am sir." Jarvis said before going silent.

Sometime during the girls' testing the four Cubs had woken up, they were currently wandering the lab, though the female cub had wandered towards Tony, giving him curious looks before he started petting her. "Alright minions let’s get to work" Tony boomed, slightly starling the Cubs who froze in place before walking back towards the girls out of curiosity.

"How about names?" Chryssy asked.

"Brilliant idea Tiny" commended Tony.

The girls laid flat on their bellies, silently studying the cougar cubs. Upon noticing this, the Cubs did the same. So the six laid in a circle staring at each other.

Looking across from her Ana eyed one of the Cubs, the cub making eye contact in return. At this Ana sent him a glare earning one in return, she raised an eyebrow, which was again mirrored by the cub. Giggling Ana made a face and stuck her tongue out, the cub attempting to do the same. Bursting into giggles Ana jumped up, startling her sisters, as she ran towards the cub. Holding her arms out, the cub leapt into her waiting arms. "I'll name him Hades!" she announced fondly.

Upon receiving questioning looks from her family she explained. "He was always my favorite! He's not as bad as everyone says!” She defended after their looks remained unchanged. “His wife is the queen of flowers.” She finished earning shrugs from her family.

"Well that makes this easy then!” Chryssy said bringing her cub to sit in her lap. “I'll name him Zeus!" The other three nodded in agreement as she began trying to high five the cub.

Cradling her cub Alex looked him in the eye. "That makes you, my small and fury friend, Poseidon!!" She said whilst scratching him under the chin. The girls looked over to Tony, who brought the cub to his eye level.

"How about Aphrodi-" Tony was cut off as the cub looked at him with wide eyes, that screamed “don’t you dare.” “Athena then?" He questioned the cub, who then licked his nose in response "The sass is strong in this one, but Athena it is" he settled putting her back in his lap as they continued their daily activities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my favorite chapters i think. I was inspired, i guess by princess Jasmine, at first they were going to be a mix of females and males. but i liked the idea more of them being protective males over the girls and just as protective female over Tony! Thanks for reading! leave a comment and let me know..... Stuff?   
>  -Angel


	9. Dancing with a splash of rain

Outside in the dead of night a loud crash of thunder could be heard, shaking the cliff side mansion. Though the owner remained sound asleep, its other occupants woke with a start. Six identical looks of fright were exchanged between the Cubs and the triplets.

"Alex what was that?" Ana questioned as she pulled Hades closer.

"Just the storm.” Alex responded. “No big deal." She said just as another bang reverberated through the house, eliciting screams from the three toddlers as the group hid under the sheets, the Cubs huddled in close beside them.

"Jarvis!" Chryssy hissed from her position.

"Miss Chryssy." he greeted.

"Where's daddy?" The little girl questioned as Alex prayed aloud.

 "Please not sleeping in his workshop, please, please!" She begged.

"Sir is currently asleep in his bedroom." He answered.

"Thank you Jarvis!" Chryssy dismissed. Still under the covers she turned her attention back to the group. "You think we can make it down the hall?" she asked.

"We can try?" Alex answered unsure.

Crawling from under the covers followed by the cougars the triplets slid out of bed. Placing one hand on the door knob, Alex counted down. "On the count of three, one, two thr-" before she could finish another clap of thunder sounded sending the girls into motion.

Throwing the door open wide with a bang the group darted out of the room and into the hallway.

"Jarvis, the hallway lights, Please!" Ana huffed out, as they ran through the shadowed hall.

"My apologies, but it would appear the power is out and the generator has not yet kicked in." The A.I finished, just as lightning lit up the windows around the second floor, sending the Cubs into a frenzy.

"We're almost there!" Ana shrieked, trying to placate the three as they ran.

Turning down the corridor for Tony's room they saw the door was left open by a crack. Diving through the door the group vaulted in, Alex closing the door as she came in last. Falling to the floor they laid there a moment, catching their breath. Looking towards the bed they found their father still fast asleep and undisturbed in bed, though Athena looked down at them questioningly before she returned to sleep.

Getting to their feet they helped the Cubs into the bed before climbing in themselves. Curling up in various positions they heaved a sigh of relief, before it turned into a yawn.

"Good night!" Ana told them

"Good night!” they returned. The group snuggled up closer to Tony before finally falling asleep for the night.

After a long nights rest, in how many days Tony didn't remember, he stretched in content.

*********

“Good morning sir it i- ," the A.I. started only to be cut off.

“Not now Jarvis, I'm not up, up, I'm still sleeping." The genius whined.

"Sir I was onl-"

 "Mute."

 Cut off again Jarvis stayed silent.

Yawning the man turned over only to be greeted with a face full of fur. "What the?" He questioned fully opening his eyes to look around. Seeing more than the usual three lumps, he lifted the blankets on his California king to find himself surrounded, not only by his daughters, but the new additions of the mountain lion cubs. On either side of him laid a mix of the seven. "Jarvis?" He asked confused.

"As I was explaining earlier, Sir, there was a bad storm last night, which you happened to sleep through, and the children were disturbed from their sleep. They sought refuge with you, though Athena joined you well before those events transpired." The A.I finished.

"Right, maybe less sarcasm next time." Said Tony

"Noted." The A.I returned before going silent.

Carefully climbing out of bed he made his way to the bathroom. Upon his return, he noticed one of the lumps was missing. Looking around the room, he saw one of the Cubs chewing on a pair of his shoes.

"Oh come on, no not those!" He said before attempting to pull the shoe away.

Athena however, had different plans, playfully hopping away with the shoe in her mouth.

Tony sighed "That was not cute, not even a little bit." he told her.

 As if in challenge to the statement Athena released the shoe before turning over belly up, cocking her head to the side to look up at the man.

"Great! Just great! More puppy eyes" Tony announced in defeat before picking up the shoe and tossing it across the room, the cub following along to retrieve it.

"I think she likes you sir." The A.I announced.

"What's not to like?" Tony questioned.

Jarvis stayed silent, earning a questioning glance from Tony.

"I couldn't agree more sir." The A.I finally returned getting giggles from three of the lumps in the bed.

"Does someone think that's funny?" Tony asked looking around in mock confusion, eliciting muffled giggles from the three, before they popped their heads out from beneath the covers.

"Not at all." Alex said trying to keep a serious face.

"Oh yeah?" He asked

"Yeah!" the girls responded

"Oh yeah?" Tony challenged.

Bouncing to stand up in the bed the girls shouted back "Yeah!" Before leaping onto their father, followed by the three Cubs.

Tackling the man to the floor they switched between placing kisses on his face and tickling him, the Cubs helping by licking him. Athena, no longer occupied by the shoe joined in the mass.

"Uncle, uncle!" he shouted in defeat.

Still Sitting on top of him the girls burst into giggles before climbing off of him, the Cubs rolling off as he sat up.

“So Papa, are you going to come tonight?” Ana questioned.

“Hmm?” He hummed. “Come to what?” He asked feigning confusion.  

“Papa Bear!” Alex shrieked.

“Tonight’s the night of our competition.” Chryssy said, slightly glaring at the man.

“Competition? Hmm for what?” He queried laying back down on floor, crossing his arms behind his head.

Three shadows converged around him. “He’s kidding right?” Chryssy questioned.

“I know not what you speak of minion.” the man continued

“Jarvis?” Ana Called.

“Sir had his schedule cleared for this evening, in order to prepare for your cirque du soleil competition.” The voice responded before going silent.

“You four are no fun. Of course I remembered!” He announced. “Now help me up?” he asked holding his arms out.

The girls rolled their eyes before Chryssy and Ana each grabbed his arms while Alex situated herself behind his back. “One, two, three!” Tony Counted.

“Push!” The four shouted.

“A little more oomph girls.” The man teased.

“You’re a slave driver!” Chryssy called up as Tony stood up to his full height.

***************

Waiting in the wings the girls peaked through the curtains, eyes searching for their family. Finding the group situated in the fifth row in the center Ana jumped up and down squealing. “They made it! They actually made it!”

Alongside Tony sat Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. What surprised them the most, was that Uncle Nick sat with them.

A loud clap sounded behind them causing the girls to freeze. “Devochki! Are you three warmed up? O bozhe! Well? Start stretching!” Their Russian trainer instructed as she led them into a series of stretches. “You three are next, get into your places.”

On one side of the stage stood Alex, and on other side stood Chryssy. As they called for the Act Ana walked on stage, taking her place center stage, and beginning as the music started.

The three were dressed in a costume that at the bottom was green but changed shades as it moved towards the top to end in a deep blue.

Finishing her portion of the solo Ana moved towards Chryssy switching places for her sister to continue the performance, the audience none the wiser to the switch, repeating the same process with Alex.

As Alex finished her section she moved back to her side of the stage, disappearing behind the curtain.

 Ana peaked out at the audience from the other side of the stage as she mimed giggling, before disappearing again as Chryssy popped her head out from behind another curtain.

At last the three peaked out at the same time the crowd clapping and cheering upon realizing there had been three girls. They moved back center stage to perform the group work of the routine, twirling around the stage with various flips, spins, and lifts.

As the number ended with their curtsies, they skipped off stage and broke into a run to hug their instructor.

“You three! You performed so well, you remind me so much of” she cut off, with a faraway look in her eyes.

“Babulya?” Ana questioned, squeezing the older woman’s hand.

“Ah yes, your family is waiting, I am so proud. Be prepared to work when you return.” She reminded.

“Sil'neye?” The three questioned.

The graying but still red headed woman chuckled mischievously. “Much harder! Do svidaniya” she called as she left the three girls waving behind her.

“Girls?” Tony called from off stage.

“Daddy!” They shrieked running from behind the curtain.

“Look who made it!” The man said stepping aside.

The girls watched as an older woman stepped forward “Grandma Peggy you’re here!” The girls shouted before running to her.

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss little Tony’s, mini threes for the world!” She said squeezing them back before allowing the girls to hug the rest of the group.

After the awards were announced, ending with the girls coming first in their division, the family went back out to celebrate. Half way through cake Nick had been called back to work.

“Back to the ship with yer matey!” Chryssy said, before bursting into giggles, while the other adults tried to hold back their laughter.

“You’re a dead man Stark.” He murmured to the man who was in no way hiding his laughter

“Aye, aye Nicky!” he mocked as the man gave the triplets departing hugs.

 The girls looked toward Peggy “You aren’t leaving yet are you?” Alex questioned.

“I’ll be in the rest of the week!” She responded, the girls squealing in delight.

The first night was spent by Peggy being introduced to the cubs. Though she was skeptical at first. “They’re wild animals Tony! I don’t think this is appropriate!”

After seeing the girls interact with them and growing fond of them herself she let it slide.  The rest of the week was story telling of Tony in his childhood years, as well as some of her fondest memories.

“So Grandma Peg, Papa tells us you were in the war?” Chryssy questioned

“Did he now?” she responded

“Yea, he said you punched a soldier in the face!” she continued with a glint in her eye.

Peggy chuckled before she told the story to the girls, continuing into how Captain America saved the world.

“Daddy says it wasn’t the whole world.” Alex challenged

“He did? Did he? Fine then just a very large chunk of it!” Peggy conceded giggling along with the girls.

Peggy eventually ended up in the girls’ studio. After hearing about some of her fights, they insisted she teach them something.

“We fight dirty in this family!” Peggy told them. “Natural born scrappers. Step on toes, eye gouging! We are in no way beneath biting when a situation calls for it!” She said as the girls went through the motions and positioning of their bodies.

 

Tony drove the woman back to the airport at the end of her stay. The two regaling stories the whole drive.

“I’m really glad you made it Aunt Peggy it really means a lot.” Tony told her, as they stood in his private airplane hangar, avoiding eye contact.

Peggy smiled, kissing her God son on the cheek. “Ooh I’m so proud of you, Tollie” she said before she burst into giggles.

The man rolled his eyes. “I was four and I was sick! Of all the names to stick!” Tony said, sighing before a smile tugged at his lips. “Thank you.” He paused. “Miss Union Jack.” He laughed out as Peggy slapped him on the arm.

“Oh that man, I can’t believe Dugan even told you about that!” She cried, still attacking his arm as Tony continued to shake with laughter.

“Ow, ow! Okay, okay! Will you stop!” he whined, earning one more slap. “Ow!” he shrieked, before they both burst into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aahhhh Grandma peggy!! i was really excited for this chapter!!  
> Sil'neye- Harder?   
> Do Svidaniya- Goodbye/until we meet again  
> Let me know what you thought!! Thanks for reading!!!  
> and yay!! Agent Carter reference!!!


	10. Fireworks and Shakespeare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Divine intervention?

“And one more drop.” Chryssy said, finishing off the chemical mixture in the lab.

Just as she added the element the mixture began to smoke. “Girls I believe it is prudent that I open the vents.” Jarvis announced, he was currently monitoring the girls’ science experiments in the lab.

“Not yet Jar, one more second” Alex called out.

“NOW!” Ana shrieked seconds later.

There was a quiet grating noise before the latch clicked into place. The test tube began to shake as it smoked more profusely, the girls covering their ears in preparation, just as the explosion began. Colorful sparks went off, popping out of the test tube only to disintegrate into the air. The girls sat in awe at the mini firework show, Jarvis slightly dimming the area as to see it better.

Ten minutes later the mixture was still going “Okay Dum-E. I think you can kill it now.” Alex called.  

Situated beside the desk, the robot brought the extinguisher over to the mixture before putting it out, just as Tony came into the workshop.

“What is that God awful smell?” he questioned

“Fireworks.” Chryssy answered simply.

“Outside next time.” He reminded as the girls followed him to his work bench.

“Sure, sure” Ana chimed in response.

“What cha working on?” Alex questioned.

“Just putting the last few pieces on. And, There.” He finished.

“What now?” Chryssy asked.

Tony smirked in response “I’m Glad you asked.”

The four Starks were positioned around the workshop situated in front of computers, the cougars were currently napping by the girls’ feet when Jarvis spoke. “Sir I don’t think this is the best activity!”

“What? It’s the best Daddy daughter bonding activity there is. Right girls?” Tony told the A.I.

As choruses of “Right!” “You’re going down!” And “Bring it on” were shouted from Alex, Ana and Chryssy.

Tony chuckled. “You here that Jarvis? The girls are pumped start the count down.”

Jarvis began “On my mark, get set, go!”

The family began typing away on their individual computers, fingers moving swifter than a humans should have been able to, let alone 3 year old toddlers. The objective was to see who could manually get into N.A.S.A’s data base the fastest.

As they started the breech firewall after firewall began to pop up only to be overwritten by superior coding, simultaneously trackers were being sent to try and pin point the origination of the hack only to be rerouted to a server in the Bahamas by Jarvis.

“How’s it coming girls?” Tony questioned from his station. 

“No distractions!!” Yelled Chryssy from across the work desk.

“Distract you?” Tony Joked. “Me? Psht never!”

The girls giggled.

“Jarvis start the timer!” He added.

Blinking to life in the middle of the workshop was a holographic timer counting down from thirty seconds. Seeing this the girls increased speed. Tony continued at his pace checking on his daughters screens every once in a while to make sure they were on the right track.

Looking back on his screen he saw that he’d triggered another firewall, though it looked different from the other ones he encountered. “Hmm looks like someone got an upgrade!” He said before breaking through it with a few codes he came up with. “And done!” He announced with a flourish.

The timer in the middle of the room began blinking wildly. “10 seconds!” a female spoke into the room. “9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” the voice continued, before the girls shouted

“I’m in!!” “Finished!” “Did it!” the girls yelled out.

“0” the voice finished before the timer disappeared.

Jarvis spoke “The current board reads Mr. Stark with 1 minute and 50 seconds, Miss Alex with 2 minutes and 20 seconds, Miss Ana at 2 minutes and 21 seconds and Miss Chryssy with 2 minutes and 21 seconds.”

“What?” The two yelled out.

“A Tie?” voiced Ana. “Jarvis can you check the milliseconds?”

There was a pause from the A.I.  And then he replied. “Miss Chryssy beat Miss Ana by 2 milliseconds and a half.” Came Jarvis’ crisp response, before two shouts were heard again, one from success, and the other of indignation.

“I want a rematch” Ana yelled.

“Maybe next time girls” Tony told them. “I think it’s about time I got you three ready for bed. Pepper’s taking you three to get pictures done tomorrow, and she’ll kill me if you guys are cranky.”

“What, I don’t get cranky” Alex cried out.

“OH yeah, what about that time with the ice cream?” Tony questioned.

Alex gave him an affronted look “It was getting everywhere!!” she retorted. “It was making everything sticky, I don’t see why I couldn’t have had mine in a cup instead of a cone.”

Tony looked at her amused “Sure kid, I’ll remember that next time.” Alex looked placated.

The four exited the workshop, the cougars trailing behind as the lights dimmed after them. They made their way up the stairs, Tony breaking the silence. “Pepper will have your outfits ready tomorrow, she said it’s a surprise.” he explained, looking back at the girls’ reaction, which were squeals of delight.

“I hope its dresses!” Ana said excitedly.

“Oh and pretty shoes, Pepper always finds the best shoes” Chryssy added, her sisters nodding in agreement.

Tony made his way into the girls’ bathroom to start the bath water, while the girls went to the dressers to pick out their pajamas for the night, the cougars made themselves comfortable on the bed.

After grabbing their Winnie the Pooh themed onesie’s, Pooh Bear, Piglet, and Tigger, they made their way to the bathroom. Tony sat on the floor of the bathroom as the three played in the Tub. They were currently singing and splashing.

“Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream merrily, merrily, merrily life is butter dream” they sang out.

“It’s but a dream girls, but. A. dream” Tony explained causing the girls to look at him confused “What?” Questioned Alex.

“Daddy that doesn’t even make sense.” Ana continued.

“Silly daddy.” Chryssy giggled out joined by her sisters.

“Yeah silly me, what was I thinking?” Tony remedied. “All right girls out of the tub, and into the frying pan!!” Tony told them, getting giggles from the girls. Tony tucked the three into bed before leaving them to sleep.

The next day pepper arrived around noon to get the girls ready. Matching knee length dresses were put on each girl with ruffles at the bottom covering their white stockings, finished up with ankle boots decorated by a silver buckle on each boot. The back half of their hair was let down with the top pulled back into a ponytail by a butterfly hair clip. Driven by Pepper, they went to a photography studio.

As the photographer, Diana Fox, set the girls up in different poses Pepper smiled in the background. “Ohhh you girls are so adorable, just wait until Rhodey sees you!” Pepper squealed, giggling along with the triplets.

Alex was currently laying on the floor with her hands on her chin, while Chryssy and Ana were sat on either side of her, back to back with their knees drawn to their chest and heads turned to the camera.

“I must say Ms. Brown” Tony’s chosen alias for Pepper when out with the girls, whilst wearing a blonde wig. “Your girls are very photogenic, have you thought about putting them in for modeling?” Diana questioned in between shots.

“Oh you’re too kind!” Pepper returned smiling at the woman. “But I’ll leave that up to their father!” She finished just as her phone rang. “Oh I need to take this, girls I’ll be right outside of the door if you need me.”

“Okay!” They responded before returning back to Diana.

“Okay girls let’s do something a little more natural, yeah?” She questioned before grabbing a few props, stuffed animals, bubbles, and a small bridge that was toddler sized. The girls looked at it in confusion before Ana ran over to stand on it.

Alex giggled out. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your long hair!” Causing all three to burst into giggles.

“Romeo, oh Romeo wherefore out thou Romeo?” Ana said dramatically, her sisters giggling in response before joining her on the bridge.

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name!” Alex continued with her hands clasped together looking towards the camera.

“Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love!” Chryssy added.

Together they sighed dramatically before chanting in unison “And I’ll no longer be a Capulet!” While reaching out to the camera.

Diana got the shots trying not to laugh. “Romeo and Juliet? Aren’t you girls a little too young to know that play?” she questioned.

“Uncle happy says you’re never too young to know the classics!” Alex told her while picking up the container of bubbles.

“Right.” The photographer conceded. “Oh perfect can you blow some towards your sisters!” She directed.

With a nod Alex turned towards Ana and Chryssy who excitedly waited for the bubbles to appear.

Diana moved towards the girls to adjust their positions. When she touched Ana, something sparked in her. She looked at the girls in confusion before she silently worked out what had happened. She looked at the other two with interest before she moved to adjust their positions as well, the same spark happening each time. “Very interesting.” She mumbled to herself before returning to her camera, the girls none the wiser. “Okay girls right, there perfect. This flash is going to be a little bit different.” She said with a mischievous grin that was hidden by the camera. “1, 2, 3!” There was a click before a flash that was a mix of different hues coated the girls in light.

They jumped in response before rubbing their eyes “A little bit different?” Ana questioned.

“I'm blind I’ll never walk again!” Shrieked Chryssy.

“What the heck?” Alex grumbled blinking rapidly.

Just as she spoke Pepper returned to the room “Sorry about that girls I was jus-are you three okay?”  She asked befuddled as to why the girls were stumbling into each other.

“Oh sorry about that!” Diana intervened. “The studio has me trying out a new flash, it might be a bit stronger than they anticipated” she explained sheepishly.

“You think??” The three girls shrieked back.

“Girls” Pepper scolded lightly.

“No, no it's my fault, I really am sorry girls. Good news is we’re all finished here, I’ll have the prints emailed to you Ms. Brown.” Diana told her.

“Er right thank you again! The drafts look great.” Pepper responded.

“Oh no thank you, they were great and I hope they reach their Full Potential!” she replied ominously.

“Right, okay let's go girls how about we get ice cream?” Pepper offered.

Still blinking rapidly, the girls made their way over to Pepper to grab her hands, slightly stumbling before they finally exited the studio.

Diana made her way to her desk just as her phone started ringing. She groaned in response before answering. “Thank you for calling spotlight studio, this is Diana speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“Tessa what did you do?” The man on the phone questioned sounding exasperated with the female.

“Professor? Is that you? Long time no see!” She responded evading the question.

“Tessa?” The man cut through.

“Oh me I’m fine thanks for asking, business is booming might I add” she continued.

“Why Tessa?” the man countered.

“Oh you’re always spoiling my fun, I was just helping, it was just waiting to be let out professor, and I just gave it a small push” She explained innocently.

“Meddling as usual then, I think it's time we had a talk.” The man told her.

“What was that professor, the lines breaking up, kisses bye!” she rushed out before hanging up while blocking her mind so he couldn’t reach her telepathically. “Old man.” she grumbled out before going back to work.

*************

“Oh girls I'm so happy! Those proofs came out great, now let get you some ice cream.” she announced in the car. “Girls?” She questioned after not getting a response.

Looking into the backseat she saw the girls were fast asleep. “I guess it's around their usual nap time.” Pepper reasoned opting to pick up some ice cream from their favorite parlor.  Arriving at the house she called Tony to meet her outside to help get the girls in the house.

“Out like a light.” He told her after laying the girls down. “I told you photo shoots are exhausting.”

“You’re still going on Friday Tony!” Pepper told him before leaving the mansion.

He grumbled in response before heading down to the workshop. “Jarvis keep an eye on the girls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo...... what didjya think??


	11. I'm Sorry I Can't Hear You Over The Sound Of Me Panicking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storms'a brewin

Tony sat in his workshop, a screen in the background monitoring the girls who had yet to wake up. Sometime during the evening a storm began, and knowing of the girls’ fear he left a movie playing in their room. The storm continued to pick up, but Tony paid it no mind as he continued to work on his newest project.

A loud crack of thunder reverberated through the upstairs, sending the girls bolting up straight in bed, the growing cougars still curled up around them.

“Oww my head hurts.” Whined Chryssy as she clutched her head.

Alex rubbed at her eyes before sliding her ponytail holder from her hair, hoping to relieve her own head ache, her sisters doing the same, allowing their curls to fall free to their hips. They laid back to try and finish what was left of Aladdin playing on the TV.

Five minutes later they couldn’t take it. “It’s too bright! Jarvis can you turn off the T.V?” Alex cried out.

The TV clicked off leaving the six in darkness. Chryssy reached over to turn on the lamp sitting on the nightstand. As she touched the switch there was a crackling sound before the light bulb burst, the girls screamed in response. Tears in their eyes, the girls called for the A.I.

“Jarvis where’s Daddy?” Ana asked sniffling.

“Downstairs, I will alert him to your distress he should be here soon.” He told her.

Nodding the girls sat in the darkness trying to stay calm as the storm got worse outside. “Your eyes are all glowy.” Ana said suddenly.

“Yours are too.” Chryssy told her, sniffling.

“What and you guys didn’t tell me?” Ana questioned.

“Well both of yours were, and I just thought it was the TV, but then it was dark, and they’re still glowing.” Alex said in one breath.

The three sat in silence, until they grew tired of waiting,  and climbed down from the oversized bed followed by the cougars who now stood at their height. Overcome with vertigo, they grabbed onto their companions’ collars to help them get out of the room, their tiny footsteps echoing through the hallway. Making it down the stairs proved to be difficult but not impossible as they leaned heavily into the cougars.

“Papa?” Chryssy whined out.

 Getting no response the girls sat down in the middle of the living no longer able to stand what was now a full blown migraine. The three began to cry harder only agitating it more. Hades and Zeus nuzzled into them in an attempt to calm them, while Poseidon ran off to find Tony.

                                                                                                                           ***************

The ocean waves began to beat harder against the side of the cliff, Lightning striking down too close to the house as the winds blew stronger against the mansion, creating howling sounds that seemed to echo the girls cries.

                                                                                                                           ****************                      

Tony was searching through the bathroom’s medicine cabinet looking for a pain reliever the girls could take when the light began to flicker in the bathroom. “What the he-” he cut off as the light bulb burst. Hissing a curse under his breath he quickly exited the bathroom.

“Sir I would suggest you make your way upstairs” Jarvis announced.

“Working on it!” He told the A.I.

Tony looked up slightly startled as the lights around him began to flicker before bursting, he ducked down in response covering his head.

Righting himself Tony made his way toward the stairs just as Athena and Poseidon ran towards him. “What is going on?” he questioned aloud as the cougars pushed him faster up the steps.

Upstairs he noted all the light bulbs had busted there as well, looking around he could make out the girls sitting on the floor crying. “Minions?” he called out.

“My Head!” Ana whined out between sobs.

“It hurts so bad!” Alex continued.

“I know baby. Wait are your eyes glowing blue?” Tony questioned.

The girls shrugged in response as they continued to cry.

He moved to pick them up, only to be shocked in response, he let out a yelp, jumping backwards before he began to panic. “Jarvis what just happened?”

“I’m not quite sure sir.” he responded.

Tony tried again to pick up Alex only to get shocked again. “Okay! Is this electric, electric? Or am I missing something?” he said aloud.  Shaking it off, Tony sat down in front of them. “Jarvis check the origin of the electricity surge.” he ordered.

“It appears to be coming from, the girls’ sir.” The A.I. responded.

Tony looked at his still crying daughters. “How does that even? Never mind okay? I’m here girls, you’ve got to stop crying okay? I want to help, but you need to calm down, deep breaths!” the man soothed.

Still in pain the girls quieted down.

“Good now I’m going to try again okay?” The three nodded as Tony slowly reached out to them. This time able to touch them, Tony hugged his girls in relief.

Feeling their foreheads he noticed they were burning up. “Jarvis check their Temperatures!”

 “My calculations say they are running a fever at about 103°”

“Shit” Tony cursed out.

“Daddy!” Ana tiredly scolded as she clung to him.

“Sorry, minion.” he said as he stood up.

“Jarvis start the car, we’re going to the hospital.” He sat them down on the couch to grab their coats.

“You four are staying here.” Tony called to the cougars as he got the girls into their rain coats, ignoring them as they whined in protest Athena being the loudest.

“I can’t bring Mountain lions to a hospital Athena!” Tony added, just as there was a knock at the door. “Now what!” the man groaned. “I’ll be right back, sit tight.” He called as he made his way to the door. “Jarvis?”

“Biometric scans have determined them to be two females and three males, one of which is in a wheel chair.”

Tony opened the door “This is private property and you are trespassing, I’m kind of busy right now, so you can escort yourselves off of the premises.” He said moving to close the door.

“Hold on a second bub!” The bigger man interrupted stopping the door from closing.

Tony looked at the door before he looked at the man again with a raised eyebrow, growing aggravated at his situation. He inspected the group, one of them indeed was in a wheel chair, and bald, he noted. One of the females had white hair the other had red. The man next to the red head had on what looked to be goggles? Or was it a visor? Next to him, the man currently keeping the door from closing, was a man with mutton chops and an annoyed expression.

“Now, now Logan. Mr. Stark my name is Professor Xavier and we are the X-men, we are only here to help.” The man said from the wheel chair.

“Help with what exactly? Look I’ve got to get somewhere, s-” he cut off as the white haired woman stepped forward.

“Professor it’s getting worse I’m trying to keep it at bay, but the three of them together.” She finished with an uneasy head shake.

Tony froze before his face hardened “Look I don’t care who you people think you are, but you need to leave, like ten minutes ago.” He said as lightning struck a nearby tree with a loud crack setting it on fire. “Could this get any worse” Tony growled out.

“Professor!?” the woman warned.

“Mr. Stark your daughters need our help, specifically my colleague’s.” The Professor said motioning to the white haired woman whose eyes had whited over completely.

Officially freaked out Tony was about to get Jarvis to force the door shut, but he looked up as a Tornado began to touch down at the farthest end of the property “I just had to ask! What the hell is going on?” Tony shouted as the winds continued to pick up.

“Mr. Sta-” the Professor began.

“Stop saying my name!” Tony warned trying not to have a conniption.

“Your daughters need help! Their mutations have begun to develop and they are currently spiraling out of control!” Xavier yelled over a roar of thunder.

“Excuse me?!” Tony yelled, at the mention of mutants.

The burly man sighed exasperated “Look pal, I’m a mutant, they’re mutants, and your kids are mutants! If you don’t let us help, your little house on the hill is going to be wiped off the cliff!”

Tony looked around before sighing. “How’d you know I have daughter’s, did someone send you, who else knows you’re here?” He questioned squinting to see through the onslaught of rain.

“No one sent us I used a machine we have, Cerebro, it allows me to locate mutants, I noticed your girls were in distress, and came as soon as we could” the Professor explained.

“Daddy?” Was cried out from behind Tony as another round of lightning lit up the sky. 

Tony wiped a hand down his face, hoping he wouldn’t later regret what he was about to do. “Jarvis, put us on maximum security, no one gets in or out until our five guest have left!” He ordered as he allowed the “X-men” to follow him inside.

As they made their way into the living room Athena started to growl, before the other three cougars took up defensive crouches in front of the girls on the couch, causing the visitors to pause as Tony continued.

“You rich folk keep some weird pets!” The bigger man said.

Tony paid him know mind and stood next to the couch “Girls? This man says he can help okay? It’s up to you if you let him, but I’ll be right here the whole time, yeah?”

The three peeked up from their positions before nodding. “Anything to stop my head from hurting.” Alex whined.

Tony nodded towards the five who still hadn’t moved. He rolled his eyes “Athena!” he called, the mountain lion gave one more wary glance in the direction of the strangers before she moved to the side of the couch the girls were resting on, the other three doing the same.

The group continued forwards stopping in front of the sisters. “Hello girls my name is Prof. Charles Xavier, this,” He said motioning the white haired woman forward. “Is Storm. She is currently trying to keep the storm you three created at bay.”

 Ana looked up to them “What do you mean we created, we just woke up?” she asked.

“First let’s take care of your heads, you say it’s hurting you? It appears the three of you are blocking me, I’ll need you to allow me access.” The professor told them.

The girls exchanged pained glances before Chryssy spoke “How?”

“You’ll feel slight pressure here,” He pointed to a spot on the side of his head. “It shouldn’t hurt but I need you to relax and let it happen” he explained.

The girls nodded, just as the professor began the process.

“Remember just relax.” He said as he closed his eyes.

Tony stood beside them along with the cougars, waiting with baited breath.

Slowly but surely the girls’ pain ebbed away until it was gone, the storm calming as it went, though it was still raining. 

The three sighed out in relief, relaxing further into the couch, their eyes dimming to their usual brown.

“Their temperatures are beginning to drop back to normal levels.” Jarvis told Tony, who nodded.

Chryssy blinked open her eyes before looking around the room “What the heck happened in here?” She asked upon noticing all the shattered light bulbs.

“This happened, I believe, when your powers started to go out of control.” The professor explained.

“Powers? What powers?” Alex questioned.

“And what is that smell” Ana said wrinkling her nose.”

At this Hades moved closer to her and gave a pointed glance at the burly man. In unison the three tilted their heads to the side.

“Are you sure?” Alex queried.

Hades nodded before settling himself beneath Ana’s seat on the couch.

“Sooo.." Chryssy began. "who are you people?”

Tony chuckled before facing the others “Well?” he prodded.

“I didn’t realize they were so young, from the size of the storm I just assumed!” Jean said, looking to the professor.

“There was no way for me to tell, Ororo was able to pick up that there were three people involved in the storm. Cerebro only picked up their location and the fact that they were female, the girls’ were unconsciously blocking any other information. I myself didn’t know they were triplets? I still don’t know their names?” The professor added with a kind smile.

The girls’ looked to Tony who sighed, before nodding.

“I’m Alex and this ‘she motioned for her cougar to come’ is Poseidon.” She introduced as he laid his head in her lap.

“My name’s Chryssy and this giant baby is Zeus.” She told them as Zeus nudged her knee at being called a baby, before he sat beside her.

“This, ‘Ana said with her arms outstretched, Hades moved forwards so she could wrap her arms around him’ is Hades, and I’m Ana the Oldest.”

The other two sisters playfully growled “What no way I’m definitely the oldest!” Alex shrieked

“In your dreams.” Chryssy chimed in.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, it was a C-section, I feel like I should make T-shirts” Tony chuckled out, relieved that his girls were feeling better.

The three glared at him before turning back to their guest “And the rest of you are?” Ana questioned.

Storm and Jean had had enough, the two squealed in delight “You three are adorable! Sorry, Hi I’m Jean Grey, this is Storm, also called Ororo, this guy is Scott, and the big guy here is Logan!”

The girls nodded pausing as she introduced Logan **“Ah yes, the stinky one.”** Chryssy thought to her sisters making them giggle. 

“And as I said before, I am Professor Xavier, I run a school for mutants, there we help them train and control their mutations away from the public eye. We’d like to help you girls learn to control yours.” The man finished.

“Whoa first, I need to call Pepper, and second what exactly happened? The girls were fine yesterday, heck they were fine this morning!" Tony queried.

“The mutation is biological, the X gene, as it’s called, is passed down through the genes of the father, some mutants are born already showing their mutation others develop them during puberty, some go there whole lives without the gene coming to manifestation. In your cases I believe something else came into play, someone must have triggered your mutation. What is the last thing you three remember?”

At this question the group looked to the triplets.

“Well Pepper took us to the studio to get our pictures done, and it was fun!” Alex began.

“So much fun, until the lady used a new flash she said the studio was trying out.” Ana said pouting at the end.

Chryssy continued. “Yeah it was this weird color and it blinded us, I thought I’d never see again!! After that she said we could leave and I remember getting in the car.”

Here the girls gasped.

“Oh no” Alex shrieked.

“What? What’s wrong?” Tony questioned looking over the girls.

“We never got our Ice cream!!” Ana shrieked startling the group.

 Tony let his head drop releasing the built up tension in his shoulders. “You three will be the death of me, it’s in the freezer.” Tony told them.

“Race you to the kitchen!” Ana called as she hopped off the couch, Hades on her heels.

“You no good rotten cheater!” Chryssy called as she and Alex raced after her, Zeus and Poseidon following behind them.

Tony fell back on the couch dragging a hand through his hair. “Well, are you gonna sit down or what? We’ll be waiting for my P.A to arrive so..” he trailed off, gesturing to the large couch.

 As they sat down, the sound of things falling in the kitchen sounded through the room.

“We’re okay!”  The girls called in unison.

“You’ve got a lively bunch!” The professor laughed out.

“You don’t know the half of it.” Tony responded petting Athena as she sat by his feet.

                                                                                                             ****************

An hour later the door opened. “Tony? Girls? Is everything okay? Why are the trees on fire?” Pepper called in a panic as she entered through the door way.

“Yeah I should probably do something about that. Jarvis?” Tony questioned.

“I’ll handle it sir” The A.I responded.

The girls were sat around the table questioning the older mutants about their powers.

“Tony, what’s going on?” Pepper questioned looking at the odd group in the living room.

“Professor, this is my assistant and one of the girls’ caregivers Pepper Potts, Pepper this is Professor Charles Xavier yata, yata, yata, we can talk about the rest in the dining room, Jarvis keep an eye on the girls.”

The two caught Pepper up to speed and began to discuss the situation at hand. “I’d like to do some background on this facility you have, but I agree, the girls will need help controlling their abilities. They won’t be living with you full time, no I won’t do that.” ‘Tony said after hearing how most of his students lived on the property. “We can come for a few weeks we’ll stay nearby, and the girls can get a hold on their abilities. After that they can come on the weekends for anything else they need?” Tony offered, Pepper nodding in agreement.

The professor conceded “That should be fine, the girls will have a room for those weekends and any other time they might need it.”

Tony only hesitated a moment before he nodded in affirmation.

“What are you?” Ana questioned the larger man.

“What are ya talkin about kid?” Logan asked.

“Well Hades says the weird smell is you” Alex explained.

“Smell?" Logan sniffed the air "Ah heck I thought it was those cougars, it’s coming from all of you?” He questioned as the professor, Tony and Pepper made their way back into the room.

“What’s that Logan?” The professor questioned.

“It seems these three have some animalistic qualities most likely cougar.” He said with a pointed look at their companions.

“That is odd.” The professor said before looking to Tony.

“The girls had a run in with a mountain lion a while back, it wasn’t hereditary like you said this was, the girls believe it was magic.” Tony finished, rolling his eyes. Annoyed that he still wasn't able to explain what had happened to his daughters.

“Her name was Niara! We met her in the woods, and she gave us a gift to allow us to communicate with the cubs.” Chryssy explained.

“And some other added qualities.” Pepper added.

“I’m just glad she didn’t give them tails.” Tony sighed out.

“That would have been cool!” Ana shrieked making the group laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh? Eh? how about that?? let me know what you think??


	12. Getting a handle of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a bit longer to post sorry!! I've basically caught up to where I am now with this fic and my test group(person) had to let me know what they thought of everything.. is that a beta? Idk but TADA!! It's here!!! Enjoy

The Professor sat off to the side, observing storm and the triplets’ outdoor lesson, the first of many.

The four were sat on the ground in a circle.

“Close your eyes and breathe.” Ororo instructed. “I want you to feel the earth around you.”

Doing as they were told the girls sat in silence. Suddenly the three silently began giggling.

“Stop tickling me I’m trying to focus!” Ana whispered.

The three went silent, only to burst into giggles again.

“You’re supposed to be focusing.” Ororo told them with a soft smile on her face.

“We’re trying!” Chryssy managed to say between giggles.

“Yeah, but the grass! It’s really tickly!” Alex told her.

Ororo let out a huff.

“Tickle her why don’t you, you’re going to get us in trouble” Ana giggled.

 “Who are yo-, oh!” Ororo cut off startled before she giggled. “Why didn’t you three say the grass was actually tickling you?” She managed to say before standing up.

The girls were now laid out on the ground convulsing with laughter. “We did!” Gasped out Chryssy.

“The grass is really excited today, I think it’s going to rain later” Alex explained.

 “You like to tickle people do you?” Questioned Ana. “How about a taste of your own medicine?”

 On queue the girls sat to their knees and began blowing on the grass.  The grass beneath them began to sway in the breeze in response.

Free from the assault the girls stood before turning to their instructor with wide grins.

Ororo stared back puzzled. “You girls stay here, I’m going to have a word with the professor.”

The girls nodded as the woman walked away.

Alex looked to Chryssy mischievously, before she pounced on her and began tickling the stunned sister, starting an all-out tickle war between the three.

 

“Ororo, what seems to be the problem?” Charles questioned as the woman stopped in front of him.

“Well it seems that our original analysis of the girls’ mutation may have been slightly off.” She said turning to stand beside him.

“What do you mean? Oh!” The man said after reading her mind. “It would appear you are correct.” 

“We assumed that the girls’ mutation was storm based, but it seems to be much more than that.” She explained.

“Yes I see it now, I believe it is called nature manipulation. In time I believe the girls will be able to create a storm such as the one that brought us to them, but it seems that their environment literally reacted to the girls’ emotional distress “

“That must be why I had such a hard time controlling the storm, it seems nature itself took matters into its own hands.”

Going a different route, Ororo decided it might be best to teach the girls control over their emotions first. The four of them sat together in empty class rooms in the school, to avoid a repeat of their last session. Ororo taught the girls meditation techniques, ways to stay calm, and then how to control their own emotions.  Once they got a handle on their emotions she helped them practice with the different elements, communicating and using them to their advantage.

**********

Tony decided the girls needed a break, planning a pool day the family was currently at their home in Malibu.

The girls sat cross legged along the edge of the pool, looking longingly at the water.

Chryssy let out a deep sigh.

Tony stood at the grill making lunch for the family, seeing the girls weren’t getting in he made his way over.

“What’s wrong?” Tony questioned

“We want to get in.” said Alex

“Then why don’t you get in?” he asked

“The water feels icky.” Ana told him.

“And the smell is making my tummy hurt.” Alex finished eyes tearing up as she did.

“Hey! Whoa! No tears!” Tony warned before getting an idea.  “Do you thinks it’s the chlorine in the pool? He asked sitting down beside them.

Chryssy shrugged. “Probably, I mean ever since” she waved her hand through the air, creating a small breeze, as an explanation “everything feels different!”

“Papa I really want to go swimming!” Alex shrieked.

“Ok I’ll fix it!” Tony told them. Standing up he went to take the food off the grill, before heading back to the house.

“Papa?” Ana called before the three chased after him.

Entering the house Tony called to his A.I. “Jarvis! I need you to drain the pool.”

“Right away sir.” He replied

“What are you doing?” Alex asked

“We are going to refill the pool and keep it chemical free. How do you feel about salt water?” he questioned.

They only shrugged.

“Hmm.” He hummed. “Okay we’ll think of something” he told them, making his way down to the workshop, the three trailing along behind him.

As the pool refilled Tony began to think of a way to keep the pool clean but without using chemicals. In the end he created an ionization filtering system to keep the pool clean. Essentially the water was clean enough to drink, on par with bottled water.

The girls happily played in the pool for the rest of the evening, Tony joining them for an impromptu water fight.

****************

The Cougars were home with Pepper and Tony while the girls stayed over at Xavier’s for the weekend.

Zeus was on his way back upstairs when he heard a voice, a female one he didn’t recognize.

He began to growl at the threat, stalking towards the doorway.

“Ms. Everhart is a guest of sirs” Jarvis told the irate cougar.

He let out a huff before turning away from the doorway to make his way to the stairs.

The voice continued to get closer until he realized the woman would soon be in the room with him. Mid way up the stairs he froze in panic, blending in as part of the decor.

The woman continued to poke around the living room before she made her way to the sealed door.

Zeus tried not to roll his eyes as the woman pressed a button on the keypad. 

With a loud beep Jarvis intervened. “You are not authorized to access that area.” he said, startling her slightly.

“Jesus.” she gasped staring at the door in disdain.

Pepper rounded the corner to head off the woman pausing minutely at seeing Zeus frozen on the steps. She hid her laugh with a cough, in part to garner the prying woman’s attention.

Pepper smiled politely at her. “That’s Jarvis, he runs the house.” her smile turned soft at the thought of the A.I.

“I’ve got your clothes here. They’ve been cleaned and pressed, there’s a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

“You must be the famous Pepper Potts.” Christine guessed.

“Indeed I am.” Pepper returned

“After all these years. Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.” Christine snarked.

Pepper hid her annoyance behind a larger smile. “I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally taking out the trash.” 

Zeus attempted to hide his snickers as pepper politely referred to the woman as garbage.

Christine looked around for the source, Zeus stilled even farther, if that was even possible.

“Will that be all?” Pepper asked handing the woman her things, leading her out of the area.

As the footsteps grew distant the cougar relaxed his position rolling to the floor. He had only come out to get a drink of water, he shivered at thought of Athena coming across the woman. She didn’t take well to strangers, let alone strangers carrying Tony’s scent. What was that about? The cub wondered.

Pepper returned to the room as Zeus stood up. She walked over to scratch behind his ear, getting loud purrs in response

“I was half tempted to see her reaction to staring down a live cougar. “ Pepper sighed in mock disappointment “Maybe next time.” She finished with a pat to his head.

*********************

 

The girls looked around the wooded area as they waited.

Chryssy let out a sigh. “I’m tired of waiting! Bring it on!” she yelled.

Just as she did the ground began to shake. In sync the girls crouched down to the ground placing one hand down to the earth to better communicate with it.

“It’s coming from the north, one of us will need to get up high.” Alex deduced.

Ana grinned “I’m on it!” she giggled out, holding her hand out in time for a vine to wrap around her wrist and pull her into its tree top.

Alex turned to Chryssy “I’ll distract it so you can get behind it?” Alex offered.

Chryssy shrugged before taking a deep breath, as she did, she seemed to wisp away with the wind, leaving behind flower petals as she went.

The ground shook again. “Right giant robot, which I need to distract.” Alex huffed out.

Chimes of her sisters giggles rang through her head, she rolled her eyes in response.

From the north, a large metal robot, the size of the trees that surrounded them, appeared making its way up the hill. Alex felt around her surroundings until she found what she was looking for. As the robot drew closer she began to move her index finger in a circular motion, she continued until the robot was ten yards in front of her.

“Whelp here goes nothing.” She said aloud.

Stepping aside Alex watched as her Water spout formed from the lake at the forest edge behind her. With an upward hand motion it lifted up out of the lake and into the air. Continuing to guide her creation she sent it towards the robot, until it engulfed the being. It didn’t quite lift it into the air but it was off the ground, the robot swirling around in the vortex, its arms flailing about.

Alex giggled at the robots frantic movements before she got serious, holding her arms out stopping the tornado, she breathed in whilst swinging her arms away from each other separating what was left of the water into two large globs. Waving her arms up and around she sent the water crashing down onto the robot with all the strength she could muster in her tiny body. The robot went crashing down with it, laying still as the onslaught continued. She dispersed the water sending it back to the lake behind her as she waited for the robots next move. Slowly but surely the robot began to stand, pushing off the ground and into a standing position.

 **“Now would be a good time to do something!”** she called to her sisters, gathering more water from the air around her.

Ana let the vine take her up the tree until she was as far up as she could get. Settling on a branch she surveyed the area. Crouching down she prepared her move while she waited for her sister.

 **“Now would be a good time to do something.”** she heard Alex say through the link.

 **“Roger that.”** she responded.

Standing up she held onto the tree, leaning in close she took in a deep breath before taking control of the forest they were situated in, branches began to shoot out from the surrounding trees. Ana lifted her arm that wasn’t holding on to the tree before thrusting it out in front of her sending all the branches toward the robot. The branches wrapped around the giants appendages securing it in its spot. Ana called for another vine using it to better secure her in place. Firmly situated, she crouched down holding her arms out to the ground beneath her, she slowly thrust them into the air standing as she did. The ground in front of the giant began to quake, a large chunk of earth rose from the ground at a rapid speed slamming into the robot sending it sprawling to the ground as she released the branches hold on the being. Behind the robot Ana could see Chryssy materialize into place.

In a gust of wind Chryssy reappeared a few yards behind the robot. After seeing Ana finish she didn’t allow the robot to stand up. She jumped up and down in place trying to increase her blood flow as she shook out her body.

 “Alright!” she breathed out before standing still. A large gust of wind formed, blowing her pigtails behind her. She used the wind to lift the robot, forcing it to stand up while holding it in place. She watched as Alex moved the water she was waving through the air into the robots mouth. The being began to malfunction as the water reached its circuiting, sparks jolting the robots prone form, as it went.

 **“Now!”** Alex called.

The three stood in an off triangle surrounding the robot. The sky began to crackle with lighting, thunder booming in its wake the three girls seemed to blink in unison, luminescent blue eyes replacing their usual brown ones. In time the three raised their arms to the sky, lightning beaming down directly to their location creating three pillars of electricity with each girl situated at the base of one. As it ended the girls held fast to the lightning coursing through their bodies as they slowly lowered their arms, aiming for the large robot between them. There was one more deafening boom of thunder, as the triplets released their hold on the lightning. Surging forward it struck the robot, the small sparks the robot had been releasing amplified at their onslaught. It continued to jerk and writhe, before explosions overtook the robot.

Chryssy rode the wind back to Alex, standing beside her as the robot exploded into pieces. As it did, what looked to be an arm was sent hurtling towards them. Before they could react they heard the distinct sound of the George of the jungle call, looking to the side they saw Ana swinging towards them on a thick vine. In unison Alex and Chryssy jumped, using a small push of air to aid them, grasping onto the vine as it swung out of the way, the arm hurtling past where they had previously been standing.

“Thanks Ana!” Chryssy called through the air as they swung back towards the tree.

Ana giggled “What are big sisters for!”  She returned.

Alex shook her head “I will hit you.” She told her as they landed on the nearest branch.  

The three climbed down from the tree as the landscape began to disappear reaching the ground just as the tree vanished. The three high fived before running to the exit of the danger room. Running to tackle storm into a hug as she waited outside of the door.

“You three did great! I’m so proud of you!”  Ororo praised. The girls had come across the danger room just a few days after they began training. The professor had agreed that after they got better control over their mutation they could have a go at it. Ororo kept the robot on standby mode, allowing the girls to strategize and practice what they’d learned. To say the least, the three had surpassed her expectations.

The girls grinned up at her. “Proud enough to let us have ice cream before dinner?” Chryssy questioned.

Storm huffed out a laugh “hmm I don’t know...” she dragged out.

“Please?” The three girls begged giving her their puppy dog eyes.

“Oh alright” she gave in. “You girls go get cleaned up, you three will be getting picked up after dinner.” The girls jumped excitedly before skipping into the locker rooms to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I don't know if there will be any ryhme or reason to when i actually post. so bare with me!!! What did you think of the chapter??


	13. Lost and found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long!! Give it a read and let me know what you thought.

The girls chatted and giggled in the back of the car as their driver took them to the Stark mansion in New York City. They never stayed at Tony’s childhood home long and had only been a number of times.  As the driver drove up the private drive way the girls looked around.

Stepping out of the car the girls took notice of the atmosphere, it was eerie out, and the girls couldn’t understand the feeling that took hold of them

The girls pushed open the door to the house.

“Daddy, Pepper we’re home!” Ana called as they made their way into the living room where they found Pepper sat on the couch clutching her head.

“Pepper?” Alex called hesitantly.

Something was wrong, finally placing the feeling they had when they’d approached the mansion as uneasiness.

“Girls your back! How’d everything go?” Pepper asked. Trying and failing to discreetly wipe her eyes, before looking up at the girls. It was supposed to be their last week in New York after training with the X-men to control their powers.

“What’s wrong?” Chryssy questioned.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked.

“No, it’s not.” She told them solemnly. “Come have a seat.”

The girls did as they were told sitting on the large couch as the cougars came bounding down the stairs moving to stand beside them.

“This morning, you remember your father had a demonstration he was supposed to attend?” Pepper started. The girls nodded.

“What happened? Alex asked hesitantly.

“Did something go wrong?” Chryssy asked.

“Is he okay?” Ana finished in a frenzy. The girls kept their eyes on pepper.

“The demo went fine, it was on their way back when the convoys were attacked.” Pepper told them.

“Attacked?” Ana shrieked tears beginning to form in their eyes.

“Is he hurt?” Chryssy asked

“He’s not dead is he?” Alex asked quietly. **Surely they would be able to feel it if he were? Or they’d just know!** They reasoned through their link.

“No! God no! They think he was taken they didn’t find him there.” she placated, refusing to say find his body in front of them.

“Girls your father was kidnapped.” Pepper explained.

The girls’ eyes began to flash dangerously blinking in and out of blazing blue to their usual brown as they fought for control as sobs began rack their tiny frames.

“Kidnapped? Why would someone take him?” Alex shrieked as she shot to her feet.

“We don’t know all we can do is wait, trust me girls they’re doing everything they can to find him.” Pepper said, trying to calm the girls.

 “They? whose they?” Chryssy questioned as their eyes finally began to dim and return to normal. They were tired so tired, the events of the day finally taking its toll.

“Rhodey is leading the search, they’ll find him girls.” Pepper reassured.

“You promise?” Ana asked through a hiccup.

“Oh girls!” Pepper pulled them into a hug, the four gripping tight to each other as they cried. “They’re going to try their hardest.”  The woman told them.

***********************

 

Tony awoke gasping for air. Something was blocking his air ways, he reached to wipe his face and came in contact with tubes. That would explain it. He began pulling it out yanking the last bit with a tug.

"What the hell?" He questioned aloud. What was he even laying on? Sitting up he was tugged back down by a pull on his chest. Finally opening his eyes he looked down to find the source, cords were attached to his chest.

"The hell?!" He gasped out. Just as he went to pull them out a voice stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The man warned.

 Following the sound of the voice Tony looked behind him with a frown. "What?" He asked.

"That is what's keeping you alive" the man explained.

Alive? What was he talking about? Tony looked down at the cords following them to their source. He found that he was hooked up to a car battery. Tony screamed. His yells echoing through the cave.

******************************

The three girls woke up screaming in their dad’s bed, the Cougars jolting awake in alarm. Hades who was the closest to the edge fell off the bed in the uproar.

There was a thud and then the door burst open, wood splintering as it did. Nick dove into the room in an impressive tuck and roll, standing he had two guns drawn as he checked the room for threats.

 "What happened? Who's there?" He yelled into the room.

The girls looked to the floor where shattered pieces of the door lay, before looking back to their uncle with wide eyes.

He dropped his head letting out a deep sigh as he sheathed his weapons.  He pulled out a walkie talkie keeping his eye on the girls.

"False alarm, stand down Strike Team Echo." He ordered before hooking the walkie to his black pajama pants.  In the distance the girls could hear the sound of helicopters flying above. 

Alex furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the man, while Ana stared at him bewildered.  Then there was a loud whoop from Chryssy.

"Dude you have got to teach me that!!!" She shrieked.

Nick shook his head before taking a seat on the edge of their bed. The cougars curling up around the girls in an attempt to go back to sleep.

"Another nightmare?"  He questioned.

Chrissy immediately went silent. The three hung their heads before nodding. Nick checked the time, 6 am. At least it was morning, he reasoned to himself.

"Breakfast and then we'll go to your studio." He said

 The girls began to argue. "Ah ah. You three need to eat something and then I'll teach you that move you’ve been wanting to learn."

 The girls nodded excitedly before following the man down the stairs.

*************

Tony was getting twitchy he needed to get out of this cave. Still working he looked up to Yinsen. “You still haven’t told me where you’re from.”

Yinsen continued to work for a brief pause before answering. “I’m from a small town called Gulmira.” He chuckled after seeing Tony’s frown. “It’s actually a nice place.”

“Got a family?” Tony asked.

“Yes and I will see them when I leave this place.” He confirmed. “And you?” he queried

Flashes of his girls running through the yard. Tony sighed he needed to be with his girls, so much was going on and he’d gotten taken right in the middle of it. He closed his eyes trying not to panic before looking around at the cameras. He turned back to Yinsen.

“No.” he said, refusing to divulge any information about his private life in the cave. Maybe he’d introduce the girls to Yinsen if they ever got out of this. When. He remedied. When they got out of this.

“No?” Yinsen questioned

Tony shrugged in response.

“So you’re a man who has everything and nothing.” He speculated.

*********************

 

It had been a month since their dad had went missing. Pepper and Happy watched after the girls whilst Rhodey continued the search. It was currently Happy’s turn and the girls had taken refuge in their father’s workshop.

“Jarvis how’s the trace going?” Alex asked.

The girls had Jarvis try and locate Tony by the tracking device they had put in him, but they had hit a small speed bump. A big one really being that the device was on but couldn’t pick up a signal. They were currently trying to gain the use of a satellite to better pin point his location.

“My apologies, but it is taking longer than expected to overtake the satellite.” Jarvis answered.

“It’s okay Jar send over some of the data and we’ll help” Chryssy told the A.I.

 The girls sat in front of their laptops as Jarvis sent over the sequencing. They sat in the workshop the rest of the evening trying to breach the main frame to no avail.

Ana yawned Alex and Chryssy doing the same as if it was contagious.

 “You three should go to sleep I’ll handle it from here” Jarvis announced.

The girls looked up “What? Jarvis we can’t!” Ana wailed.

“How are we supposed to sleep when Papa’s still missing?” Alex cried out, frustrated that nothing was working yet.

“He wouldn’t want you to overwork yourselves, no matter his predicament.” Jarvis reasoned.

Chryssy huffed as Jarvis shut them out of the programming.

“Please just get some rest, I can handle this for the rest of the night.” Jarvis told them.

He was quite fond of his creator’s daughters and would do anything in his circuiting to keep them safe and healthy.

The girls sighed wiping the tears that had formed out of tiredness and exasperation.

They made their way over to the set up they had in the middle of the workshop, part of an agreement they had made with Jarvis and Pepper in an attempt to get them to sleep. Already in their Pjs the girls fluffed up their nest and got comfortable as they cuddled up with the four cougars.

Athena let out a small whine.

“We know girl, we know. Trust me we’ll find him.” Ana told the cub.

“Jarvis can you play the video?” Alex questioned

“I don’t think would be” he cut off.

“Please Jarvis, it just helps.” Chryssy explained.

They waited, then the wall in front of them lit up as home videos began to play of Tony and the girls. The current scene was of Tony chasing around the three of them, at age two, as he attempted to change their diapers.

“Why would you want to sit in your own poop!” he yelled as the girls continued to evade him. The second he had one the other would draw his attention whilst the other got away.

“We can play after just let me, ALEX NO!” he yelled as Alex took off her diaper and threw it to the floor.

The seven of them giggled as they watched the video Alex pick up the diaper and begin to chase Chryssy with it Tony running to snatch the diaper before she could spill its contents. They fell asleep some time later on a video of the girls being taught to swim by Rhodey, Happy and Tony.

*****************

“STICK TO THE PLAN! Yinsen!” Tony yelled as Yinsen ran through the doors. The sound of guns firing becoming distant as he went. Tony cursed before unhooking himself. Making his way out through the threshold Tony searched around seeing the man laid in a corner, he walked over, moving as fast as he could in the clunky suit. Already thinking of ways he could make it lighter.

“Yinsen! Look out!” he called as a group rained fire on them. Tony shielded the man’s body as the onslaught continued, turning slightly he shot a small missile in the hostiles direction not looking back as the explosion boomed.

“Stark!” Yinsen gasped out.

“Come on, get up. We have to go.” Tony informed him. “Move for me, we made a plan!” Tony said trying to remain calm. “We need to stick to it.” He told him trying not to let his panic seep into his voice.

“This was the plan.” Yinsen told him. His breathing getting shallower by the second.

“No, you’re gonna see your family, get up!” Tony whispered urgently.

“My family is dead, I will see them now. Please go. I want this.” Yinsen reasoned

Tony looked at him, hearing the voices getting louder in the distance.

“Thank you, for saving me.” Tony told him.

“Don’t waste it.” Yinsen said before going silent.

Tony turned around in his mechanical suit. He was getting out of here. Back to his family. Home.

***************

 

 

The girls made their way down into the workshop.

"Jarvis? Status update." Ana asked.

The girls had been coerced into going to practice with Babulya and they'd had just finished cleaning off.

 "I have gained access to the satellite I am currently increasing the signal of the tracking device. Jarvis responded.

The girls froze in the doorway before they ran over to the main screen.

"And!!!!???" Alex asked.

The girls held their breath.

“The trace should be finished in two hours.” He told them.

The three fell back into their chairs.  "We'll find him." Chryssy said aloud.  Getting comfortable as they waited.

 

The three girls had fallen asleep at their claimed workspace, a loud beeping noise was going off in the room.

Ana jerked awake. "What? I'm not sleeping!" she told the room. Yawning she rubbed her eyes before looking for the device that was causing the noise. She looked at the screen as coordinates began to type across it. She jerked on Alex's arm who jolted, her head knocking into Chrissy's in the process.

"Oww." the two whined before glaring at each other.

“Sorry." Ana whispered sheepishly.

Jarvis's voice echoed through the room "The trace is complete I have located sirs location.”

 The girls sat frozen before they dove to press the call button. They waited as a ringing sounded from one of the speakers.

"Girls! What are you three still doing up, where's happy?" Rhodey questioned

The three began yelling excitedly into the phone before they finished together. "We found him!" They yelled excitedly into the mic.

Rhodey stayed silent on the line. "Girls?" He finally asked.

"We're sending over his coordinates" Chryssy told him, doing so as she said it.

 "How'd did you guys?" He began

"Can you bring him home?" Ana questioned

"I’ll do everything I can" he answered. "Now get some sleep." He said before hanging up.

Rhodey sighed, he should have known, it takes a Stark to find a Stark he thought to himself. Shaking his head he rounded up his team. "We've got a location" he yelled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you found any mistakes let me know and I'll fix them!!!. Thanks for reading!!!


	14. Home Comings and Re-acquaintances

The girls stood pacing the room, occasionally running to the window to peak out.

“Jarvis where is he?” Chryssy called.

“His ETA is twenty minutes.” He responded

The girls sighed. Tony had made a pit stop not coming home directly after landing in the states. The girls were understandably restless. They had sat watching the TV as their dad held a press conference. Watching as he announced he would no longer make weapons. The girls had an understanding as to what their father did for a living, whether or not they approved never actually came up, they didn’t pay too much attention to it, though they were glad weapons would no longer be a part of his company.  The man who tried to interrupt him, he had caught the girls’ attention. Laughing awkwardly at the statement before announcing Tony needed his rest. Athena growled at the TV, Alex looked at her before nodding.

“Yeah… Me too.” she said with a frown, patting the cubs head.

Pushing that down the girls were currently waiting for Tony to get home. The room had already been decorated, a “Welcome home!” banner hanging across the ceiling. 

Zeus looked over at the pacing girls before he got up to follow them. Attempting to grab at the bow that was draped on the back of Chryssy’s dress. She swatted him away with a small gust of wind sending a small smirk in his direction, he answered her with a growl, accepting her challenge. As he dove in to try and nip at the bow she rolled out of the way at the last minute, only as she went to stand up she was too close to Alex so she ended up tripping her mid pace.

Alex landed on Chryssy giggling, looking up they saw Zeus ready to pounce.

Alex gripped Chryssy’s hand as the cub dove through the air. The two disappearing in a slight breeze before reappearing near Ana.

This caught Poseidon and Hades attention. Athena entirely too excited to be swayed by games, sat up high on a perch, Tony had built for them, as she waited.

The three cubs now joined together, wiggled excitedly, before the six began circling each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.

The cubs getting impatient charged for the girls.

Ana used a plant situated in the corner of the room to trap Hades, the cub mewling anxiously at being confined, before he began biting at his restraints.

Chryssy and Alex ran head on as Zeus and Poseidon pounced. Chryssy sent a small burst of wind to send the cubs higher up into the air as the two of them slid beneath the air borne cubs.

A now freed Hades came speeding into the fray, Poseidon and Zeus sliding into him as they tried to right their positions as they landed.

Tony chose that moment to walk through the door.

The six froze in their stances, looking to the door. Before they could make a move Athena pounced with an excited roar.

Tony looked up just in time to catch the airborne feline, she gripped him into what could only be described as a hug.

The girls screamed in excitement. “Daddy!” Running to tackle him into a hug.

Athena jumped out of his arms so he could catch them. The three girls burst into tears, clinging to the man with all their might.

“I know, I know.” he murmured into Ana’s hair as he gently squeezed the three.

The girls looked up at him with watery smiles. “Welcome home!” They greeted.

“Good to be home.” He returned as he brought them into another hug.

Chryssy opened her eyes while still in the hug noticing a light shining from his chest.

Ana sniffed. “What’s that smell?”

Tony chuckled. “Well I tried to shower on the plane, but” Alex cut him off.

“No Papa, you don’t stink!” she laughed out before sniffing

“You just smell different?” Chryssy said, her words coming out as a question.

Tony frowned “Bad different?” he asked

“No. Not bad! Just. Different.” Ana reiterated.

“Well what do I smell like, don’t leave a man hanging.” He questioned as the three continued to look him over.

“And where’s the light coming from?” Chryssy asked reaching to touch it.

Tony stood up “Nothing. Its, nothing” Tony said stepping away from them.

“Papa? Where are you going?” Ana asked

“I just, I need to” Tony managed to say.

Alex reached out and grabbed his hand. “Please don’t leave us.” Alex whispered, staring up at him with wide eyes.

Tony stared down at them before looking at the cougars who were staring at him confused.

Tony shook himself out of his stupor. “Wouldn’t dream of it kiddo.” He said gently squeezing her hand. “Follow me.” He said making his way into the workshop. The seven followed him down like lost ducklings in a row.

Tony looked around his workshop before looking over at the pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. The girls only shrugged at his questioning gaze.

“Right so… first off... Rhodey tells me you were the ones who sent him the coordinates? Do I even want to know?” He questioned sitting down at his work bench.

Alex smirked. “Us Starks have to look out for each other.” She reminded him.

Tony face palmed “I’ve been bugged!! By my own children!”

The girls looked up at him cutely. “It was just for emergencies!” Chryssy tried.

“You’re not mad, are you daddy?” Ana asked before the three pulled out the puppy dog eyes.

Tony sighed “God I’m not back for a day and already! No I’m not, I was in the middle of the dessert so, emergencies and all that jazz” he said.

Tony unbuttoned his shirt.

The girls gasped upon seeing the source of the glowing.

Tony waited, trying to gauge their reaction.

“Is that an arc reactor?”  Chryssy asked breaking the silence remembering seeing the schematics for the one powering the factory.

Tony nodded.

“Well that explains the smell!” Alex added thoughtfully

Tony chuckled “I’m still not sure if that’s good or bad.”

Ana climbed into his lap to squeeze his face with her dimpled hands. “We’ll get used to it!” she reassured.

“Yeah as long as you’re attached to it!” Alex explained climbing on to the bench with Chryssy to get a better look.

“Can I touch it?” Chryssy asked

Again Tony nodded

She place her hand over the device.

The three placed their heads to Tony’s chest to hear the quiet hum of the reactor. Looking up to their dad smiling.

Tony returned it.

“So what’s it made with?” Chryssy asked

Tony sighed this was where things got complicated.

“Well I was in a cave so, limited resources and all. I won’t go into detail but basically it’s keeping the shrapnel from” Tony sighed he couldn’t explain this, not to his babies… he dragged a hand through his hair mussing it up. “How about you tell me what you three have been up to? How’s it coming with your...” he trailed off.

Alex looked around his desk, finding a bottle of water she unscrewed the lid before manipulating the water out of it. She held it up before forming it into a ball, she tossed it into the air. Chryssy took a hold of it midair before sending it to Ana who manipulated it back into the water bottle, replacing the lid as she finished. The three looked up to Tony excitedly.

Tony sat in awe before he hugged them. “Amazing! So how does that even?” he questioned

“We can manipulate the elements as well as communicate with most living things.” Chryssy explained.

“Alex prefers the water, while I enjoy earth, and Chryssy likes air!!” Ana told him excitedly

“Though we can control any of them when we want.” Alex finished.

***********

 

Chryssy yawned as she made her way into the workshop, pausing as she heard Jarvis speak.

“I wouldn’t advise you to do this alone.”

“It’ll be fine!” Tony told the A.I.

Athena whined from her spot on the floor covering her eyes with her paws

“Ooh come on, it isn’t that bad.” Tony reasoned

“Daddy?” She called, making her way down the stairs.

“Chryssy? You’re up early. Wait don’t come down…. Here…” he trailed off as she ignored him

“Is that a hole in your chest?” She asked, frozen in the door way.

“Technically? It’s a chest plate for the reactor” Tony told the child.

“Way cool!!” She shrieked before running over to her father who was currently laid out on a make shift operation table.

Tony sighed his morning was not going great. He needed to change out the reactor he made in the cave with the updated one he’d just finished. The only problem was his hands wouldn’t fit in the space to connect the pieces.

“Can I help?” Chryssy asked with a manic gleam in her eyes.

“Um...” Tony floundered

 A sleepy Ana and Alex poofed into the room creating a slight breeze with their entrance.

Tony’s heart monitor spiked “Jesus! Don’t do that!” he gasped

The girls looked to the monitor that was attached to Tony, before looking back to him sheepishly.

“Sorry Papa.” Said Ana.

“Chryssy said she was going to help replace your chest piece, we wanted to help!” Alex told him enthusiastically.

“When did she..?” Tony questioned

Chryssy grinned pointing to her head.

“Right. No. as much as I love you three.”

“Aww.” Chryssy whined

“Fine I’ll get Pepper.” Alex told him

“Wait! No! Don’t!” He called only to be ignored again.

“Pepper!” Alex called as she ran up the stairs to get the woman

Tony sighed

Athena snickered at his distress

He sent her a glare.

Minutes later Pepper’s heels were heard clicking down the stairs.

“Tony why is Alex saying th…Oh my... Tony?”

“Hey Pep. Pepper! Pepperon-” he cut off when she shot him a glare. “Show me your hands.” He said giving in.

Pepper held up her hands shooting a glance to Chryssy who only shrugged

Tony talked her through the process as the girls watched. The triplets flinched when she ripped out the magnet. The monitor blinking red warning signs, Athena nearly fainted.

“What? What’s happening?” Pepper questioned

“Nothing.” Tony tried to shrug, wincing for his troubles. “I’m just going into cardiac arrest, cause you yanked it out! No! Don’t put it back!”

The girls continued to watch until Pepper finally replaced the wires and the heart monitor returned to Tony’s pulse rate, breathing a sigh of relief when it was over.

The girls watched as Pepper left the room, still holding the old reactor. They looked to their dad, who was also watching her leave, bursting into giggles at his dazed look.

**********  


Tony spent most of his days and nights in the workshop, the girls didn’t really mind as long as they were allowed in. Until one evening they weren’t.

The girls pulled on the locked door, looking at it confused. The usual glass wall was frosted over making it so they couldn’t see inside.

“Jarvis?” Ana questioned

“My apologies, but sir is currently working on a project he wishes to keep private.”

Chryssy raised an eyebrow at the ceiling, Jarvis seemed to whir at being uncomfortable.

 Alex shrugged before leading the group back upstairs to play.

Between practice with Babulya and training, the girls weren’t home all that often, but when they were the doors to the workshop remained off limits.

***************

The sound of thrusters taking off had the girls crawling towards the window as a flash of light disappeared into the night.

"Was that a falling star!?"  Ana questioned, her face pressed to their bedroom window.

"It went to the sky so it'd be a shooting star!" Alex told her.

"Same difference." Ana argued.

"Jarvis! What was that?" Chryssy asked ignoring both of them.

"I'm not at liberty to say." The A.I. responded

The girls looked up confused before racing down to the workshop. Pulling on the door only to get the same result as their previous tries.

"Sir has reque-" Jarvis started.

"Enough!" Alex yelled. The three created a small breeze disappearing with it as it went. Reappearing in the workshop they looked around at all the scrap pieces of metal scattered around the workshop.

"I'm tired of not being allowed in here, I'm going to find out what he's working on." Chryssy announced. She made her way over to the computer. Trying to log in only to be locked out, she let out a growl of frustration.

"Let me try." Alex said squeezing into the chair beside her.

"Miss Alex!?" The A.I. called sounding alarmed

She looked up sadly at the ceiling "Brothers betrayal, the worst kind!"

Jarvis stayed silent. Alex continued, shaking off feeling guilty as she hacked into Jarvis' main frame. She began to bring up video feeds of the last three weeks, Ana joined them in the work chair to watch the videos. They watched as Tony started with flight stabilizers confused, until the next feed showed the finished product up until today's footage of Tony taking off to the sky.

"What... What was that??! Ana questioned.

"It's a-" Jarvis tried.

"I know what it is!" She said cutting him off "I mean ... Why would he hide it from us?”

The girls continued to look through schematics of the suit until Tony crash landed through the ceiling.

Chryssy used a push of wind to spin the chair around dramatically, only she used too much and the girls continued to spin. Tony stood and looked on confused as the chair finally slowed to a stop. The three hopped down from the chair only to stumble and trip as they tried to get their bearings. The three began to giggle before choosing to just sit down. Tony hid his amusement behind the mask crossing the arms of the suit until they were done.

Alex stopped first, upon seeing the suited man staring she nudged her sisters who immediately looked to her. Tony cleared his throat, gaining the three’s attention. They stayed seated crossing their arms as well, as they waited for their dad to explain.

Tony gave first. “I thought we agreed on a lock down Jarvis?”

“Yea well we didn’t use the door.” Chryssy said cutting in before Jarvis could respond.

“I forgot about that.” Tony said as the face plate began to lift.

The girls stared waiting for him to continue.

When he didn’t Alex stood. “So you built your super-secret suit.” The child said with a wave of her tiny arms in the air. “I just don’t know why we couldn’t know.”

“Look, minion, it wasn’t personal…”

“Kind of feels that way.” Chryssy said coming to stand beside Alex.

“Well it wasn’t!!” Tony let out a deep sigh. “There was a lot going on in here. I didn’t want you three to get hurt” he finished.

Ana looked up to him. “Kinda happened anyway.” She mumbled out. The other two helped there sister up before walking to the door.

“Wait! No! That’s not what I- “Tony tried.

 The girls continued, ignoring Tony’s protest, when the door didn’t open Chryssy grabbed Alex and Ana’s hand before disappearing in a gust of wind.

Tony sighed “And father of the year goes to…. Not… Me… Jarvis get me out of this thing.”

The rain began to pour down outside mimicking the girl’s, and seemingly Tony’s current mood with grey clouds blocking the usually sunny skies of Malibu.

************

"I feel a little bad." Ana caved two days later during a break at practice.

“Yeah well, he could've talked to us, but he didn't." Alex said

"Maybe he didn't know what to say." Ana tried.

“How about _sorry I let my work consume my life, how about some gold fish!_ " Alex said trying to mimic Tony’s voice.

Chryssy nudged her.

“What I'm hungry?" The other girl reasoned before taking a drink of water.

"Holding grudges is hard!" Ana whined.

"We aren't holding a grudge... Just waiting for him to apologize, or bring pizza... Which ever happens first?"

The two looked at her.

“Okay fine.... I'm over it! We can go see him tonight!" Alex said, a small smile forming on her lips

"Yayyyy! Can we show him how to fix that icing problem, he was having with the suit?" Chryssy begged. The three burst into giggle.

“Yea if he hasn't fixed it himself.” Ana managed to say.

 A loud clap sounded from the door way of the rest area. "Devochki, breaks over back to work with you three!!" Babulya called, the older woman stood with both hands on her hips as she watched the girls scurry back into the studio.

*************

After showering and changing into pjs the three ran to the workshop. The girls paused at the door hesitantly before the door opened in front of them.

“Thanks Jarvis!” They called continuing into the workshop only to find it empty...

“Where is he?” Ana questioned.

The girls continued to stare blankly at the empty workshop. No sooner had she asked then a loud clank sounded behind them. The girls spun around to seat their father standing from his crouched landing position.

“Papa you’re back!!” Alex shrieked.

Tony chuckled, as the girls ran up to him. The girls took inventory, noticing the scratches and holes decorating it.

Chryssy looked up confused “What happened to the suit?”

“Uh you know, rescuing small villages from sieges.” Tony replied, waving a hand through the air.

“Like a superhero?” Ana giggled jumping up and down.

“A. that would be awesome and 2. Not exactly, more like righting wrongs I may have had a hand in causing. Jarvis?” Tony called as he walked towards a yellow mechanism. It began to try and remove the suit from his being, the girls watched in awe as Tony was lifted into the air, giggling as he began struggle.

“Oww! Hey!” Tony whined

“It’s a tight fit, sir” Jarvis explained.

“Well I designed this to come off so…. Ow!” he yelped as the machine began to use more force.

“Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt.” At this point Jarvis sounded exasperated. And the girls were having a hard time containing their giggle fit, so much so that they didn’t notice Pepper until she was already stepping into the room

“What’s going on down here?” she looked down at the girls who froze when she came in, and then back up to Tony in what appeared to be a high tech suit of armor.

“Okay, let’s face it this is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing.” Tony reasoned.

“Are those bullet holes?” she screeched.

“Someone’s in trouble!” Alex giggled out as she stood.

“I think Zeus is calling me!” Chryssy said as the three left the workshop.

Ana only shrugged. “Have fun Papa!”

“TRAITORS! Girls don’t leave! Minions!” Tony’s voice echoed behind them as they looked for a way to busy themselves while Pepper had a talk with their dad.

**********

Sitting on the couch with the girls as they watched cartoons Tony let out a sigh as he waited for word from Pepper, when the house phone rang. Earlier that day Tony had sent her to the Stark Industry office to try and find information on the happenings in the company. Hopefully she’d found out some information about who’d been selling his tech to terrorist, and maybe who had him taken. As Tony went to pick up the phone he barely got out the word “hello” before he lost feeling in his body. He could hear Pepper calling for him over the line.

“Breathe, easy, easy” The voice’s attempt at soothing him only made Tony panic.

“You remember this, don’t you?”

He recognized that voice. Out the corner of his eye he could see Obadiah taking out ear plugs. He tried to speak, to curse but all that came out was a strangled gasp.

“Shame it didn’t get approved, there’s so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.” Stane shook his head. Before pulling out a device. Tony could only watch in horror as he moved it towards his chest.

The man looked around the room before eyeing the girls frozen beside Tony.

“How domestic Tony.” The man laughed surprised.

Tony let out a strangled protest as Stane removed the arc reactor from his chest.

The man then turned to the girls.

He tilted Chryssy’s chin up before smiling over at Tony.

Zeus growled threateningly from his frozen position on the floor.

“Triplets huh? They have your eyes.” When Tony’s strangled gasps grew more frantic Stane condescendingly patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry!” Stane reassured, only making Tony’s struggling increase.

“I’ll take great care of them.” The man grabbed the case before hoisting two of the girls over his shoulder and holding the other under one of his arms.

The cougars beside him whined in protest.

As Stane closed the door behind him the sky lit up with lightning.

Obadiah wasn’t half way to the car before the struggle started. Unbeknownst to him the three girls’ eye were a startling luminous blue.

The ground began to shake as he moved towards the car, he barely stabilized himself when a strong gust of wind knocked him over. Vines yanked the girl’s from his grip as he fell to the ground. 

]

The girls could only watch as nature went to work on the man trying to take them.

A vine went to yank the case from his hand before he pulled out a gun and shot at it. The man tried to take a step back only to realize his feet were being held in place by long tendrils of grass. Obadiah let out a curse, what the hell was happening? Looking behind him at the pavement the man wiggled out of his shoes before making a dive for the ground. He let a gasp upon impact before he got to his feet. He looked up to see the girls still held in the air by the vines. He moved to step forward when the door to the house burst open.

Four raging cougars let out roars, and the man cut his losses and ran for the car.

The four animals were quickly gaining ground and the man dove for the door handle. Not before one caught him around the ankle.

Ana managed a scream when the man pulled out a gun on Hades.

He went to shoot at it when another vine ripped the animal out of the way. Not looking back he slammed the door closed before speeding off down the drive way.

As soon as the man was gone Ana began coaxing the vines to release them. Gently they were lowered to the ground.

“Thanks!” Ana called

“No! No! No” Chryssy hissed. “He got away with the reactor.”

“Just hold on, I think the old one is still in the workshop.” Alex placated, remembering Pepper had it placed in a glass display.

“Right. Umm how do we?” Ana began. The girls had yet to gain full mobility, and were sprawled out in various positions on the lawn.

“Little help?” Chryssy called.

The cougars immediately came over, Athena helped get the girls onto Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon’s backs, the group slowly made their way back into the house so they didn’t fall off.

The three looked around the living room for their father.

“Jarvis?”

“Sir has made his way to the workshop.”

The three looked to each other before struggling to hold hands.

Upon contact the three let in a deep breath as they began to wisp away.

Down stairs they found Tony beside a table on the ground the glass shattered around him.

“Daddy!” Ana cried out.

Tony was barely able to look behind him to see his girls.

Finally breaking out of their paralyzed stupor, the three ran over to Tony.

Chryssy picked up the arc reactor from the glass fragments. “Hang in their Papa!”

Tony let his eyes close.

Clicking the pieces into place the girls waited with baited breath for Tony to open his eyes.

“Tony?” Rhodey called as he made his way down the stairs “Where ar- Tony!” the man rushed over just as the man groaned.

The girls looked up and then back down almost getting whiplash in the process. Before sighing out in relief when Tony's eyes flew open as he gasped for air, Rhodey helped him to stand.

“Pepper? Where’s Pepper?” Tony asked frantically, gripping the man tight.

“She went with five agents to take in Obadiah.” Rhodey explained

“That won’t be enough.” He said before making his way over to the suit.

“Sir that chest piece was not meant to sustain power for a suit of that caliber.” Jarvis warned.

Rhodey looked on in disbelief as the suit began to assemble around Tony.

“I have to save her J.” Tony reasoned.

“What do you want me to do?” Rhodey asked

“Watch the girls and keep the skies clear!” He called as he flew through a previously made hole in the ceiling.

Rhodey looked down at the girls who smiled up at him from their positions on the floor, before looking at a silver suit in the corner.

“Maybe next time.” He mumbled before pulling out his cellphone. “Wait, why are you three on the floor?”

“Attempted kidnappings can be very tiring” Ana told him.

“You think they’ll be okay?” Chryssy questioned.

Rhodey sat down beside them. “Yeah, your dad’s got this, he’ll save Pepper don’t you worry.”

**********

The girls waited anxiously for word from either Pepper or Tony. They sat curled up on the sofa with Rhodey watching the news about what had happened on the highway. The cougars sat dutifully beside them in comfort. When the phone finally rang the girls jumped up ready to answer when Rhodey beat them to it. Not having any of it, Chryssy rematerialized beside him to take the phone from his grasp. Rhodey was too surprised to do anything. As she clicked the answer button. Placing it on speaker, she looked expectantly at Rhodey, who rolled his eyes before leaning towards the phone. “Hello?”

“Oh Rhodey!” Pepper called.

“Mom!” The girls yelled into the phone.

The line went silent for a second.

“Pepper?” Rhodey questioned looking at the girls, letting a small encouraging smile grace his lips.

“Sorry I just, it’s been a really stressful evening, and it’s really nice to hear my angels’ voices.” She reasoned, sounding as though she was holding back tears.

“Is everything okay? Are you guys hurt” Ana called into the phone worriedly.

“I’m fine, your Dad’s a little roughed up but he’s okay.” She soothed. “We’ll be home late, I was actually calling to see if you could stay with the girls until we got there, I’m not sure what time we’ll be getting in.”

“No it’s fine we’ll be okay here.” Rhodey reassured her.

“Can we talk to Papa?” Chryssy questioned hopefully.

“Of course! One second.” She answered. There was static before Tony’s voice came over the line.

“Girls?”

“Papa! You’re okay!” Alex called into the phone relieved.

“What? Oh yeah its gonna take more than an oversized mandroid to take down your dad.” He chuckled.

“We saw you fighting it!!” Chryssy squealed over the phone excitedly. “When you caught that car and then you blew up that bus! Totally awesome!”

“You saw that did you?” he asked

“Yeah and Papa?” Alex asked

“Mhm?” Tony responded sounding tired.

“You are definitely a super hero!” Alex told him.

Tony didn’t say anything for a minute.

“You think so minion?” He finally asked

“Definitely!” the three chorused over the phone.

“All right that’s enough ego boosting for one night.” Rhodey told them, getting collective awe’s of disappointment.

“That’s all right girls, listen to Colonel Kill Joy, and we’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Good night!” The three yelled into the receiver before hanging up the phone.

Pepper looked at Tony with barely concealed tears in her eyes.

“What? What’s wrong!” he asked in a panic, turning to call for a medic.

“They called me Mom!” Pepper managed to say.

Tony looked at her for a second and then shrugged. “All three of them?”

Pepper only nodded in response.

Tony gave her a small smile “It was only a matter of time Pep, come on let’s get cleaned up.” He announced throwing an arm over her shoulder. “Some agent wants to debrief me.” He said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Pepper let out a small giggle. “You’re disgusting.” She said shoving him away.

“He said it first!” Tony shouted in protest as they made their way to the car.


	15. Welcome to the Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Don't know why this took so long to post..... its a bit shorter than the last chapter. I hope you enjoy!!

As the night drew near the Starks were set up in the workshop. As her sisters let out a tired yawn, Alex realized that she had never felt more awake, jittery even.

“Will you stop bouncing?” Chryssy giggled out

Alex stilled her movements, smiling sheepishly. It only took a minute before she began wiggling again.

“What are you so excited about, I can actually feel you buzzing!” Ana told her.

Alex giggled, when she looked up to answer her sister gasped.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“Your eyes! They’re blue!” Ana shrieked

“They always turn blue when we use our mutation.” Alex told her with a shrug.

“Well?” Ana questioned, looking at her sister curiously. “Are you using it now?”

Alex looked perplexed by the question, a small pucker forming as she furrowed her eyebrows. “No?” she told her, though it came out as a question. She went to turn her chair around to get up only to fall out of it at the last minute. As she fell she could hear yells of her name before everything disappeared from around her.

Ana and Chryssy looked at the spot their sister had just been, before looking to each other.

“Papa!?” The two called at the same time worry evident in their voice.

The man came striding over “what’s up buttercu-” he paused mid-sentence before he looked around the lab. “Where’s Alex?” he questioned looking between both girls. At his question Poseidon began sniffing around the lab in search of his companion. Not catching her scent he looked to his siblings who immediately stood to help in his search.

“Well...” Chryssy hesitated, where Ana did not.

“She fell out of her chair and then she whooshed!” Ana explained with wide eyes.

“What do you mean? Like that wind thing you do? So what, she disappeared?” Tony asked trying make sense of Ana’s use of the word.

Chryssy slowly shook her head “uh uh, Papa, she was going to hit the floor but then there was a whoosh and then water and then…”

“She disappeared!” Ana chimed in.

“Jarvis has Alex reappeared anywhere else?” Tony questioned

“My sensors are not picking up anything, it does not appear that she is in the house.”

“What!!!” Tony nearly shrieked. He began pacing “Show me the video feed!”

The three turned towards the screen as their last few seconds with Alex replayed. As their sister fell from the chair it looked as though she fell into a pool of water before disappearing completely.

“What just happened?” Tony questioned, his mouth agape.

Poseidon moved to a spot behind the group his sniffing intensifying at a growing scent. She appeared in a burst of water startling the cougar who jumped in shock, she patted his head in turn before speaking.

“It appears that I have learned how to water travel.” The girl in question voiced behind them in her attempt at Jarvis’ accent.

The three jerked around surprised.

“Alex!” Tony called

“Why are you naked?” Ana questioned

“What?” The girl shrieked looking down “Oh come on! How does that work?”

Her sisters giggled at her distress. Looking around Tony found one of his T-shirts thrown over a chair, pulling it over her head she stretched her arms through the too big sleeves.

Tony picked the child up bringing her to sit in his lap as he took her previous place at the table.

“What happened?” he asked finally.

“I’m not really sure.” Alex said. After a minute the toddler began to squirm in his lap. “Papa I feel a litt-” before she could finish the child disappeared again, this time leaving a soaked Tony in her wake. The man sat staring at where his child had just moments ago been sitting. “What is happening?” The man wanted to yell, but he stayed calm. Looking around for where she might reappear.

“It looks like her mutation is going haywire.” Chryssy told him

“Yeah, her eyes were still blue!” Ana added

“You three got that under control months ago I thought?” Tony queried

“Something must have changed?” Chryssy said shrugging.

“What could be different?” Ana wondered aloud.

“If I might add, tonight is a full moon sir.” Jarvis announced.

“What? It didn’t affect Thing 1 and 2!” Tony challenged.

“Well…” Chryssy said trailing off not sure how to finish her sentence.

“Water.” Tony said aloud his head jerking up in surprise.

“Correct, the ocean tide is strongly tied to the Moon.” Jarvis explained

“Yeah, but what about you two how come you aren’t affected” Tony asked warily as if the two might suddenly disappear at the mention of their mutations.

“Well it’s like we told you, we can control all of them, but we felt stronger pulls to different elements. Alex’s being water.” Ana explained

Tony nodded in understanding.

Suddenly there was a noise like ocean waves, they turned towards the sound to see Alex’s form begin to materialize in a small wave of water crashing to the ground, she stumbled slightly at the entrance before getting her footing. Her hair looked soaked, though it was drying rapidly, but her body appeared to be dry. The child chanced a look down at her body. “Hey I think I’m getting the hang of this, look I’m still wearing your shi-” she cut off as her body began to turn to water before phasing back. She stood frozen for a few seconds, she chanced a glance at Tony and then her sisters, the three wearing identical looks of shock. “See I got it completely under control, and look!” she said happily, holding up a soaking mass in her hands. “I found my clothes!” she exclaimed.

Ana giggled. “Your eyes are still blue!” she pointed out.

Alex blinked slowly once, then twice, before the light faded and her brown color came to. She let out a wide yawn. “On second thought, I’m really tired.” The toddler said before easing herself to the ground, she curled into a tight ball still clutching her wet clothes before promptly falling asleep.

Tony immediately walked over to scoop up his sleeping daughter, looking behind him, he smiled over his shoulder. “You heard the girl, time for bed ladies.”

Before they could argue the two let out their own yawns. Giving in they slid down from their chairs before holding up their arms to Tony. The man let his head droop before switching the sleeping triplet to his left arm, resting her head on his shoulder. As he bent down Ana wrapped her arms around his neck while Tony grabbed Chryssy with his right arm. He stood up with a small grunt before situating the three in his arms. With that he made his way up the stairs Ana and Chryssy drifting off to sleep along the way.

                                                                                                           *******************

The three girls came down the stairs sporting impressive bedheads. Pepper looked up from her spot on the couch, seeing the girls a small smile formed on her lips. “Good morning Angels.”

The three girls quickly ran over to hug the woman. “Good morning Momma!” the three chorused.

Peppers heart warmed at the greeting, so this was a permanent thing so far. She could get use to that. 

The girls took a seat on the couch beside her.

“So what cha doin?” Ana questioned

“Just some paperwork.” Pepper told her.

“Boring!” Chryssy whined.

Pepper let out a laugh “Yeah, well someone’s got to do it!”

“Not it!” Called Tony as he made his way up the stairs from the workshop.

Pepper only rolled her eyes.

The girls shot up to go run to their dad.

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise. “Freeze!” he shouted.

The girls immediately froze in their positions half way to him.

“What are you wearing?” he asked. Pepper looked them over confused. The girls however were still frozen in position.

Tony looked at them warily. “Unfreeze.”

The girls fell to the ground giggling.

“Where did you get those?” he asked again.

Alex looked down confused then back up to Tony. “Grandma Peggy sent them for our birthday!” she told him excitedly.

“She sent you Captain America Pjs?” he returned in mock outrage.

Alex was wearing a nightgown with a base color of blue and captain America pointing out with one hand and holding his shield in the other. Ana’s outfit seemed to be designed after Captain America’s suit in the form of a footless onesie. And Chryssy was wearing a short set. The shirt was a blue button up and had the shield on the front while the shorts were a base blue with tiny shields decorating it.

Chryssy nodded. “They’re really comfy!! And look we have matching slippers!” she exclaimed.

Sure enough on the girls’ tiny feet were blue slippers with captain America’s head protruding from the forefront, the helmet atop his head.

Pepper was laughing madly on the couch at the scene while Tony looked like he was having a conniption.

“Betrayed!! I can’t believe this! Mutiny!” he cried. Tony sat down in the arm chair closest to him with a huff. The girls slowly walked over to him, climbing into his chair to sit beside him.

Ana pouted “You don’t like our pjs papa?” the child asked.

“We only wanted superhero pajamas!!” Alex defended.

“You said I was a superhero!!” Tony reminded.

“Yeah but that was a day ago! They haven’t made any Iron man pajamas!” A wide eyed Chryssy explained.

Tony got a manic gleam in his eye. “Yet!” he said with a mischievous smile.

“Yet? Papa where are you going!” Ana called. Tony was making his way to the stairs.

“To talk to a man about a new franchise!”

“But we’re hungry!” Alex called.

Tony froze in his steps before quickly turning around and making his way to the kitchen. “Right breakfast first.” He remedied, pounding a fist into his hand.

The girls got up to follow him excitedly.

“Pancakes please?” Ana asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

“I don’t know...” Tony responded, trailing off at the end.

The girls froze in their steps. “What do you mean?” Chryssy asked in a panic.

“I don’t know if little girls who wear captain America pjs like pancakes!” he teased.

The girls looked to be thinking over what he said, before nodding in agreement.

“Okay.” They said before sitting on the floor. The three began to remove their slippers.

“Okay?” Tony asked baffled at the response,

“Mhm.” Alex returned, before standing to take off the nightgown.

“What are you three doing?” he asked confused.

The girls paused, Alex stood in her panties, Chryssy appeared to be having trouble getting her shirt off, and a shirtless Ana had stilled in the midst of taking off her pants.

“Well, I like pancakes, if captain America doesn’t like pancakes, then he’s no hero of mine!” Alex told him decidedly, her sisters nodding in agreement.

“That’s not what I was sa-” Tony cut off, bursting into laughter.

The girls only shrugged before continuing to disrobe. Alex decided to help Chryssy who had completely given up on the shirt and was removing her shorts.

She grinned at freeing her sister from the shirt before going to the refrigerator. She reached in and grabbed three cheese sticks, giving one to Ana and Chryssy. The three stayed sat on the floor as Tony began the pancakes. Pepper watched on before shrugging and continuing her paperwork. Just a regular day in the Stark house.

***********

Ana tossed and turned in her sleep, before settling in. On the verge of sleep she scrunched up her nose at a tickling sensation in hopes of getting rid of it. She sighed relieved when it stopped.  When it happened again she peeked an eye open to see a tail settled over her body the end of it laid over her face. She let out a small yawn before rolling over to her stomach. She sighed in content before closing her eyes. Five minutes in and she was still awake, so she rolled over again.

“Stop moving.” A disgruntled Chryssy whispered from her position between her sisters.

“Sorry! I just can’t get back to sleep.” Ana admitted.

Chryssy let out a huff that turned into a yawn. Rubbing her eyes, she opened them to see her sister looking at her with a beaming smile. Chryssy rolled her eyes before covering the smile with her hand. When she felt a wet sensation she jerked back.

“Eww gross did you just lick me!” she whisper yelled.

Ana only giggled in response.

Chryssy looked at her hand in disgust before reaching to wipe it off on Alex.

“Don’t you dare!” Alex warned, peaking one eye open at her sister.

Chryssy froze before instead wiping it on Zeus, who looked up at her, a look of betrayal on his face.

The girls laughed as the cougar scooted away from her, sending her one more look before going back to sleep.

Alex snuggled back in to go to sleep, her sisters watching. She tossed and turned before finally flopping back with a sigh. “Great now I can’t sleep.” She dared a look at the clock, 5 am.

“Well great now that you’re up we can get moving!” Ana said, happily jumping out of the bed. She placed a kiss to Hades’ head before walking to the door. She paused when she realized her sisters hadn’t moved.  They rolled their eyes before following her out curiosity getting the better of them.

The three made their way down the hall.

“Good morning Jarvis!” Ana called up.

“Good morning Miss Ana!” he greeted

“Is Papa awake?” she asked

“Sir has only recently gone to bed” the A.I. informed her

She froze mid stride, before looking to her sister. Finally the three shrugged.

“We can be quiet.” Alex confirmed.

The three made their way to his room before looking around. The curtains were still drawn shut, the light from his alarm clock illuminating the dark room. Finding their toys they left stored under his bed they attempted to quietly play. When they began playing with a ball they continued quietly until rolling the ball to each other turned into an aggressive match of dodge ball.

Ana aimed a direct hit at Chryssy who disappeared at the last minute. When the ball collided with their sleeping fathers head the three made quick of vanishing.

“WHAT I’M UP!” Tony yelled shooting upright in bed.

“Good morning sir the time is 7 am, it is currently 86° F”

Tony rubbed at his forehead before looking around confused. “Jarvis what happened?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.” He responded

Tony looked up, then around, his eyes landing on a ball beside him on the bed.  Tony let out a huff. “Where are the girls?”

“Downstairs watching the television.” The A.I. answered truthfully.

He made his way down the steps looking down to see the three laid out in various positions on the floor in front of the T.V.

“Good morning girls”

The three didn’t take their eyes off the T.V when they answered. “Good morning.”

Tony sat down on the couch. “Yeah I thought so too, until, and don’t quote me here I’m still not sure” he said with a small grin. “Until I was pelted in the head with a ball.”

Tony noticed how the girls shared a look before intently focusing on the T.V.

“Now somehow Jarvis has been sworn to secrecy, I won’t ask how, because you three have clearly developed a weird relationship with him. Fine. Good. I can accept that. We’ll take this old school.” Tony stood from his seat moving towards Alex. Picking her up the child looked up at him innocently.

“Could my small Aqua girl, be the one who woke me with the kiss of spherical value?” He asked.

Alex giggled in his arms before placing a kiss to his nose, and then giving him a large smile.

Tony shook his head, disgruntled. “Did I say aqua girl? I meant siren. That’s a no, your distraction tactics will not sway me.” He announced returning the child to her previous position on the floor.

Next he moved to Chryssy, as he picked her up she chose to go limp in his arms, flopping as he tried to get a hold on her. Choosing to hold her up from her under arms Tony had to bite back a smile at her blank face. “Tsk, tsk was it you Cyclone, did you hit your poor dad in the head?” At his question Chryssy continued the blank look until he put her down.

He let out a sigh “You’re right that would be the obvious choice, so that leaves our resident Gaia.” Tony announced hefting Ana to his hip. Holding eye contact the two stared each other down waiting to see who would crack first. When Tony squinted his eyes in suspicion, the dam broke. Ana burst into tears at the look, burying her face into the crook of his next. Her muffled apologies vibrating against him. Tony rubbed her back soothingly, responding to her muffled voice nonetheless. “I know you are. What were you doing?” he questioned.

More muffled sounds answered him.

“Dodge ball?” he asked confused.

Ana sat up sniffling before nodding her head. “We were bored, and we were waiting for you to wake up. So we thought, why not play a quiet game of dodge ball!” she rushed out in one breath.

Tony looked at his two daughter who were now watching them.

“First of all minion Dodge ball and quiet do not belong in the same sentence.”

Ana huffed “How was I s’pose to know?” she questioned

Tony snorted deciding to ignore that question. “And second, Dodge ball is from here on out an outdoor sport. I feel like I need to make a list” Tony said mumbling the last part to himself.

Ana wiped the last tears from her eyes. “Noted. Are you still mad papa?” she asked with a small pout.

“Aww how could I stay mad at that face!” he told her.

Ana smiled before pressing a kiss to the small red mark on his forehead. “Sorry Papa, Next time I’ll make sure to hit Chryssy!” she said making her escape from the floundering man.

“Hey!” Chryssy yelled chasing her giggling sister around the room.                                                

“Not what I meant!” Tony yelled after her.

He watched as Chryssy tackled Ana to the ground pinning her arms above her head making them face to face. Ana struggled before lifting her head to lick her. 

Chryssy let out a shriek as she jumped back. “Again?!! Eww gross!” She rubbed at her face, as a satisfied Ana got to her feet and moved to sit beside Alex who continued to watch TV throughout the whole ordeal. He looked down as Chryssy began rubbing her face against his pant leg in growing distress.

“When did you…. Never mind” He gave.

“So what’s for breakfast!!” she asked as she finished.

Today seemed like a waffle day he decided.

************

The girls went into practice at their usual time. When they arrived and there was a “For Sale” sign in the window Ana nearly fainted.

"So dramatic." Alex responded with an eye roll. After helping their sister up off the pavement the three made their way inside, into Babulya’s studio room.

"Dobroye utro, Devochki." She greeted.

"Good morning! I don't know if you know this but there is a for sale sign out front!" Ana blurted.

Babulya chuckled sadly. "Yes the owner can no longer keep this place. This is my last week."

"What?" Ana shrieked

"No!" Alex yelled

"It can't be!!" Chryssy denied.

"There is nothing I can do, it is, how you say, out of my hands, now let's get to work."

Practice went and ended as usual, only this time the girls left with heavy hearts.

Later when they were working on one of the cars in the workshop and Chryssy handed him a hammer instead of the oil Tony questioned them.

"Okay what's going on, you three have these kicked cougar looks on your face and if you hand me a monkey wrench one more time…” he trailed off, waiting for them to answer.

Alex froze in her movements, looking down she saw the tool in her hand before hiding it behind her back.

“Sorry daddy, it's just ..... This is our last week of practice.” Ana told him with a sniffle as she too put down a monkey wrench.

"What? How? I didn't' cancel anything." He babbled confused.

“No but the owner of the building is selling it, so Babulya has nowhere to work." Chryssy explained

“What??" He asked astounded

The girls only shrugged.

“I think we're going to bed for the night." Chryssy announced, the three placing kisses to Tony's cheek before vanishing in a light breeze.

 Tony watched them disappear as dead leaves floated to the ground instead of their usual green marjoram leaves, he sighed even their wind was sad. He swiped a hand through his hair, and immediately regretted it as he remembered there was Motor oil on it.

"Jarvis remind me to make some calls tomorrow." He called, wiping his hands off and going upstairs to see if he could get the girls to eat dinner. It was only 6 o'clock, and he was pretty sure his girls weren't going to bed this early.

The next week when the three were sadly watching cartoons the doorbell rang.

 Tony poked his head out from the kitchen "Can you get that, my hands are tied."

The girls looked at him confused, they weren't allowed to answer the door.

When Tony went back to the kitchen without another word the girls went with it.

"Jarvis? Who is it?"  Alex questioned.

When their A.I. Brother didn't answer the girls got suspicious. Using their skills they climbed on to each other's shoulders to look through the peephole. What Ana saw made her gasp.

"Open the door! Open the door!" She shrieked. When Chryssy stepped back Alex threw open the door, revealing their instructor.

The short woman was surprised to be at eye level with Ana, looking down to see the rest of the human ladder, she chuckled.

“Good to see you using my teachings in your everyday life." She told them by way of greeting.

"Babulya!" Ana shrieked happily as she, with Alex's help, got down from her position.

"What's going on?" Chryssy asked, as Alex dismounted her shoulders.

“Your father has informed me that he is in need of an in house Nanny.” She explained. “He also says you three have a studio that we can continue our practices in." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Nanny?" The three asked confused.

Tony made his way around the corner. “The more eyes I have on you three trouble makers the better, this way when Pepper, your uncles, and I can't be here, we won't need to find a sitter, besides now you guys can go out more often."

The girls jumped up and down excitedly before hugging the woman.

"It's like you're really our Babulya now!" Ana said softly.

The woman smiled "Da, Malyshka. Now where is this studio?"

 

She settled in after two weeks. Her suite, as it were, was at the other end of the hall from the girls. Essentially the woman had her own wing, the house was equipped with an in-law suite that Tony had never truly found a use for.

The triplets had introduced her to the 6 month old Cougars after showing her their studio.

"Ya ne ponimayu, I do not understand." She said confused. “You live with wild animals?”

"Well they aren't technically wild, we've had them since they were small so they’re domesticated. Kind of." Chryssy responded.

Babulya eyed the four Cougars suspiciously before holding a hand out to pet Poseidon, who eagerly moved his head towards it.

"Could be worse." She said aloud.

The girls looked confused, they would soon learn the woman used the phrase quite often.

Like when they had next introduced her to a vital part of their life.

"And this is Jarvis!" Ana announced, making a grand gesture at nothing it seemed.

Oksana looked around expectantly.

"Good evening Madame Rogov." He greeted.

The woman spun around searching the area, keeping the girls to her back she pushed them protectively behind her.

"Do not be alarmed, I am the house holds Artificial Intelligence. I look after anything and everything, as well as assist Sir and the young Mses. in their day to day life.” Jarvis explained.

She looked to the girls for confirmation and the three nodded accordingly.

Oksana relaxed her position, eyeing the ceiling warily.

_"Could be worse."_ she murmured in Russian. The girls stifled there giggles as they continued the tour.

Oksana was easily incorporated into the family, taking her role as the stern but fun loving grandmother, a role she hadn't realized she'd ever wanted to fill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think???


	16. Happiest Place On Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!!! It took me a while to finish this chapter. but i finally did it!!!!! Tell me what you think!!!!!

“Papa?” Chryssy whispered to her sleep prone father.

Tony Had fallen asleep in the lab and the girls who had also taken a nap decided he’d slept long enough.

The toddler began to yank on his pant leg until he jerked awake.

“Good you’re up! Now we can leave!” She yelled excitedly

Tony groaned before stretching. “Leave? Where are we going?”

“We. Want. To. Go. To. Disneyland!” She grunted as the three began to push Tony’s rolling chair, with him still in it, towards the door.

“What! Now?” he asked his brain finally started working on toddler time, his toddlers any way.

“We saw a commercial for Disneyland!” Ana Explained.

“We want to go!” Chryssy told him.

“Will you take us?” Alex asked as the chair rolled to a stop.

He looked down to his girls’ hopeful faces. “Of course we can!”

The girls began to cheer, but he cut them off.

“However I need to plan, give me two days!” he reasoned.

“One day!” Chryssy shot back.

“A day and a half!” he returned.

“Deal!” the three shouted

“Good go play or something, I’m running out of time!” he told them.

The girls left the workshop giggling and talking excitedly about their expected trip.

When they left Tony pulled out his cellphone.

“Pepper I need you to rent out Disneyland,” he said by way of greeting.

“Tony? What? No!!” she shrieked

“Why not! I need it!” the man cried out.

**********

On the day Tony’s time came to an end the girls, giggling all the while, began jumping on his bed.

“Wake up! Wake up!” They chanted in between bounces.

Tony reached over one by one picking up the girls and dragging them under the covers.

“More sleep, more sleep!” he chanted in return.

The girls were having none of it.  Ana grabbed the covers from over her head, before dragging them down to the bottom of the bed. Tony let out a small shiver, before holding an arm over his eyes. Chryssy and Ana grabbed his arms, pulling him into a sitting position, while Alex threw his pillows off the bed, when she finished they let him flop back, he let out a groan upon impact.

“Aww my pillows.” Tony whined, eyeing them forlornly on the floor.

“Jarvis Curtains!” Alex called out.

“Wait don-” he cut off when the curtains slid open, letting in the Malibu sun.

“I’m blind!” Tony yelled, shielding his eyes from the onslaught.

Ana handed him a pair of sunglasses happily, which he immediately put on.

“So!” Alex started, bouncing excitedly. “How long are we staying?”

“It’s only an hour away!” he reasoned.

Not amused the girls waited.

“Ugh fine, you’ve got five days” he said letting out a small detail of his plans.

The girls squealed in delight.

“No more questions. I thought you wanted to leave?” he reminded them.

At that, the girls bounced down from the bed and out of the room leaving a chuckling Tony in their wake.

When the girls came down stairs Pepper was sat on the couch and Rhodey was coming in the door. They froze not sure which way to go first. Pepper looked up at their dilemma and pointed to their uncle. They giggled before running to tackle the man into a hug.

“Hey!! What’s going on ladies?” he greeted

“Uncle Rhodey!! You’re home!” Chryssy shrieked, as he spun them around.

“Yup I finally got some time off!” He explained

“So are you-” Ana began, but before she could finish Tony cut in.

“Rhodey! Perfect timing, oh good your bag’s packed and everything let’s go, Happy’s got the car ready.”

“Rogov you’ve got the kittens for the week?” Tony called out.

Oksana nodded from her chair, the “kittens”, curled up by her feet. She cooed at Athena as she scratched the cubs chin, eliciting content purrs from the jungle cat.

Rhodey eyed the man confused. “What? Where are we…?” He trailed off as Pepper led the girls outside. He gave in for now, letting Tony drag him along, he picked up his bags on the way out.

“Look Tony I can’t do one of your excursions around the world.” He told him in the car.

Tony laughed. “Not around the world only about... mmm…. give or take an hour in a half!”

Rhodey visibly relaxed, before tensing up again. “How long?” he asked warily.

Tony shrugged nonchalantly “Only five days.”

“Only five da- Tony where are we going.” Rhodey whisper yelled.

“Nowhere special, just the happiest place on earth!” Tony explained before pointing to the girls.

Rhodey turned to look, and he watched as the girls raved excitedly to Pepper, before turning to him smiling widely.

Tony laughed as Rhodey visibly caved. “Don’t be a Colonel Kill joy!”

Rhodey sighed “You know, it’s a wonder how you plan these things exactly when I get a day off.” He said, eyeing him suspiciously.

“What? How would I know when one of you supervisors just so happens to randomly give you time off!” Tony asked, a hand covering his chest in mock outrage.

Rhodey looked at him with wide eyes. “You can’t be serious! Tony you can’t just bribe people!”

Pepper was holding in laughter, while Happy watched the road with unnecessary focus.

“Of course I can, Like Genie said, “You ain’t never had a friend like me!” Tony told him smugly.

Rhodey lost it, peals of laughter leaving the man as Tony slid a pair of sunglasses onto his face smugly.

Upon their arrival Happy left the car and their luggage with Valet. Tony in his disguise, was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a fake mustache, something he insisted that both Happy and Rhodey wear as well.

“It’s not a far off guess that if my body guard and best friend are here that I’m here, do it for the girls!” He reasoned. On cue the girls gave them the ever effective puppy dog eyes. The men looked around helplessly, before noticing Pepper’s absence. The two turned at taps on their shoulders, a woman with black shoulder length hair and a beauty mark beneath her left eye gave them unimpressed looks.

“If you ruin Disneyland I will make you regret it!” she warned.

Happy floundered while Rhodey stuttered out “P-P-Pepper?”

“Shhh, now hurry up, and put on the damn mustache!” she said impatiently.

The two immediately obeyed.

“Ooh this is so exiting!” she told them with barely contained glee. As the two continued to stare at her baffled she glared. “It’s my first time don’t judge!”

Getting themselves together they nodded before making their way into the park.

“I have assigned partners, though we will be sticking together, six eyes are better than two!” Tony explained.

“Eight.” Rhodey corrected.

“Six! Pepper as responsible as she is, is in a state of shock, she will be of no use for at least three of our five days.” He reasoned.

As the men nodded Pepper crossed her arms.

“Oh shut up, I’ll be fi- Oh my God! It’s Ariel!! Let’s get moving!!” she squealed excited.

The girls quickly grabbed one of the guys’ hands before dragging them behind Pepper just as, if not more, excited.

At the end of the first day the group was worn out. They’d only almost lost the girls twice. Once when they’d barely made it down Main Street when they saw the Minnie mouse ears the vendor was selling and they, instead of walking, disappeared and reappeared at his cart. Tony’s only notice was when he felt the cool breeze in the stagnant California air against his clothes. He was getting better at noticing that, he thought to himself as he made his way over to the stand upon hearing the vendor’s gasp of surprise when the girls seemingly appeared out of nowhere and began asking for the ears. The second time was when they saw Pooh bear and immediately ran towards him, luckily Tony had explained how the photo ops worked and they’d only run to get in line for pictures and autographs.

As the girls finally lost all steam and the park began to close, everyone except Tony began following the crowd out.

“This way!”  He called walking in the other direction.

Confused but too tired to argue they followed.

An employee stood waiting for them off to the side as Tony walked up to her.

“Good evening, please follow me to your suite.” She greeted before walking deeper into the park.

They followed their guide up to Sleeping Beauty’s castle nestled in the center of the park. The now awake girls watched as they made their way through a hidden side door into an elevator. A very quiet Ana finally spoke.

“Daddy?” she asked wide eyes matching her sisters as they ascended in the elevator.

“Yes minion?” he responded to the child situated in his arms.

“Is this… are we…..” Ana continued to comically try to form a coherent sentence as the elevator opened into an apartment.

The girls slid down from their perched positions to stand beside each other. Looking around the room in awe.

“Welcome to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Suite. There are four bedrooms and a loft. Each room is equipped with a King size bed, the first master suite has an on suite bathroom. There is another bathroom adjoined with the loft as well as one off to the side of the eat-in kitchen. The living room and dining room are off to your left, and the Patio with a view of the front area of the park is off to the right. Your bags have been placed in your rooms, here are your keycards which allow you access to the room and the personal elevator that we used to get here. Enjoy your stay here in the Castle suite!” She finished, leaving through the elevator they came up in.

Everyone turned to Tony in a mix of Awe and shock.

“Tony how did you even do this!” Rhodey yelled

“I thought you could only win a stay through a sweepstake, and even that’s only for one night!” Pepper shrieked.

Happy continued to gape at both the room and him.

Tony only laughed again before scooping up the girls. “I’ll only repeat this once. You ain’t never. Had a. Friend. Like. Me!” He said leaving the room, the girls waving goodbye over his shoulder.

“Goodnight!” the girls giggled out to the three adults staring in shock after them.

Tony set the girls down in front of a door with a Note attached to it. He grabbed it before crouching down beside them to read it.

_Dear Princesses,_

_Enjoy your stay in the Royal suite. Wemade up the room especially for you! Tinkerbell would be happy to show you around!_

_-Your friends at,_

_Disneyland_

Alex reached up to turn the door knob, and together they pushed the door open. The room though the lights were off, was lit up by trails of glowing pixie dust along the walls and ceiling. When Tony hit the light switch a soft pink, almost white room greeted them. In the middle of the room sat the King sized poster bed draped with a royal blue canopy lined with gold embroidery. A small fireplace was situated in front of the bed, with a wooden desk off to its sides, the stain glass window, displayed the scenes of Sleeping Beauty’s story. The girls hadn’t made a move since the door opened still taking the room in.

Finally the girls whispered, so low that he almost missed it. “Best Dad ever!” before the three finally began their walk around the room.

A shocked Tony watched them tour the room, still stunned at his daughters’ words. When the three shrieked Tony broke out of his reverie. He made his way towards what he assumed was the en suite bathroom. He found the girls frozen in the door way, upon seeing the bathroom he understood why.

 Nestled between three walls was a Jacuzzi tub, with four pillars situated into them. The three walls enclosing the tub were each decorated with a mural of its own. Above the tub the ceiling was decorated to be lit up like the night sky, dotted with numerous glowing stars that illuminated the dark blue backdrop.

“C-c-can we, Can we take a bath?” Alex questioned in awe.

Tony nodded before he realized she wasn’t facing him “Sure thing kid.”

 ***********

Pepper finished getting dressed for the day, double checking that her beauty marks were in the proper place. After one more glance she left the bathroom to go wake up the girls. She knocked twice on their door before peeking into the room.

"Girls." She whispered.

Opening the door further she didn't hear any movement.

"Girls?" She called confused before flipping on the light switch.

Empty. The room was empty. Weird. Going to the room around the corner where Tony slept, she inched open his door. Looking in she smiled at the sight of the girls curled up on and around her boss. Tony was sleeping on his stomach while Ana was laid out like a starfish on top of him. Chryssy was sleeping directly in front of Tony, using his free arm as a pillow. And Alex was plastered to his side, her face buried between the small crevices where his body met the mattress, Ana's hand tangled in her hair.  Pepper quickly snapped a picture before closing the door.

Tony came into the living a little later with Alex clinging to his back, and Ana and Chryssy in his arms. Happy sat lounging on the couch, and Rhodey was in the breakfast nook with a cup of coffee.

Outfitted in their disguises the family made their way into the park an attendant greeting them on their way out of the castle.

Tony wasn't sure if it was possible but the park was even more crowded then when they'd arrived yesterday, his hand drawing Ana closer to his side in response. She smiled up at him before continuing to look around the park. Feeling a tug on his sleeve he looked to his other hand.

“Daddy can we go on that one?” Chryssy questioned, pointing at the Dumbo ride.

He nodded before leading the group toward the attraction.

As they were exiting the ride Chryssy felt a pull on her shirt before she was hoisted into someone’s chest, her surprised yelped muffled by his shirt. The man began his trek clutching the toddler to his chest farther and farther away from her family.

Chryssy bit the man on the chest, the only place she really had access to in his grip. In his surprise he loosened his hold, allowing her to rear her head back, as she gasped for air.

“Who’re you?” she asked confused.

The man ignored her question in favor of maneuvering through the crowd.

“Ahh the silent type.” She sighed out as she tried to get a look at his face, the man glared down at her before continuing his walk.

“Why’re you taking me?” she tried again.

After being ignored once again Chryssy groaned letting her head fall back to look behind her, the man gripped her tighter in response making her squirm uncomfortably. She gave a small smile at what she saw in front of them before looking up at the man.

“You really shouldn’t have taken me, you’ve made them pretty angry.” She giggled out.

“Who? You’re parents? They’ll get you back soon enough, if they can afford to stay in that castle they can handle the ransom.” He grumbled out.

“Not them.” She said with a small smile. “My sisters!” she grunted out before head butting him in the chin.

“What? Oof” the man groaned while dropping her.

“Oww” Chryssy whined. “Nobody wins in a head butt” She groaned out as her sisters came to stand beside her.

***********

Ana and Alex looked around as they exited the ride. Alex turned to Ana with a questioning gaze.

“Where’s Chryssy?” she asked puzzled.

 **“Oh ya know just being kidnapped.”** Chryssy explained through the link.

“What?” The two shrieked in unison.

Tony looked down. “What?” he asked puzzled at their outburst.

The two ignored him in favor of sniffing the air.

Ana let out a growl once she caught the scent, the two disappearing in a gust of wind not fitting of their current environment.

The two reappeared a few feet behind where Chryssy dropped.

“Nobody wins in a head butt.” Chryssy groaned out.

Alex giggled whilst Ana glared at the man.

“You like to take things that aren’t yours?” She questioned her eyes flashing to blue.

“Here it comes!” Alex giggled excitedly.

The man took a step forward to grab one of them.

Alex looked up at him disgusted. “I don’t like to be touched.” She warned.

He chuckled before moving to grab her arm.

She side stepped his hand before stomping on his foot nearest her.

Surprised and a bit in pain he jumped back. “You little brat!” he cried

Chryssy sent a strong gust of wind to aid in toppling him over, the man falling with a heavy grunt.

Ana approached the fallen man, she tapped the ground once with her foot, and it seemingly absorbed the man.

She turned to Chryssy who smiled at her.

“Took you guys long enough.” Chryssy taunted.

“You know you have to let him go right?” Alex questioned after a moment.

Ana pouted before tapping her foot twice on the ground the man reappearing at her feet gasping for air. “Don’t touch my sisters.” She warned before rejoining them.

The three looked around at their surroundings.

“How far behind do you thin-?” Alex began.

“Girls!!” Tony called distressed, pushing through the crowd. “You can’t just run off like that!” he scolded as he got closer, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy on his heels.

Upon hearing a groan from behind them Tony looked to the man gasping on the ground, wondering how he didn’t see him there before.

“Girls what’s going on?” Pepper questioned.

“That man tried to steal Chryssy!!” Alex and Ana yelled as they pointed to the man who was trying to stand up.

“What?” Tony yelled.

Before he could make a move a security guard interrupted him.

“Is there a problem here?” he questioned.

“Yeah, you’re security is shit!” Tony spat.

“Excuse me?” he questioned confused.

“You heard me! While you lot were off doing who knows what, my kid was being taken!” Tony yelled pointing to the man who seemed to be coughing up dirt. The guard looked at the man in disgust.

“My apologies sir, we’ll take it from here.” The guard announced.

“Yeah you do that. Come on girls.” Tony said while gathering the triplets.

“Can we go home now?” Chryssy asked quietly from between him and Pepper.

“Whatever you want sweetheart.” Tony breathed out as they made their way to the exit.

 

The group was unusually quiet as they drove back to Malibu, in part because the girls had fallen asleep once they were half way home. Tony watched them from behind his sunglasses a frown marring his features.

Pepper sighed “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Four of us and three of them, I thought I had it figured out Pep, but that scum still managed to take her.” Tony spat, wanting to yell but opting for a quieter voice in favor of not waking the girls.

Not knowing what to say Pepper squeezed his hand in comfort.

Tony let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I almost lost her, I don’t, I Can’t lose them!” he said letting his head drop into his hands

Pepper rubbed his back soothingly. “We’ll do better Tony, we tried preparing for something like this...” Pepper trailed off, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “We’ll do better” she said with more conviction.

**********

Tony sat tinkering in his workshop, he had to figure this out. He couldn’t let it get out of hand, he had too much to live for. He continued to work going over the numbers in his head. The sound of the glass door opening made him look up. He watched as Chryssy sluggishly made her way over to him.

“Hey minion what are you doing up?” he questioned, opening his arms to allow her access to his lap.

Chryssy snuggled in to his chest breathing in his scent. “I’m not tired.” she told him before yawning.

Tony chuckled as he cradled her in his arms. “Really?” he questioned.

“Not even a little bit” she giggled out. “What’re you working on?” She questioned, closing her eyes in content as Tony explained what he was building. By the time he finished Chryssy had fallen back asleep. He looked at the schematics before standing.

“Jarvis get the lights for me.” he said, making his way to the exit of the workshop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was it??!!!!!!!


	17. Jarvis Gets a New Toy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I did a thing!!!  
> I hope you enjoy it!!

Tony had Jarvis monitor the girls, more than he usually did, to see if the day’s events had effected them in any way. The only result was that the girls stuck closer together. Tony didn’t see how that was possible, the girls already spent every minute together. Upon saying this Jarvis went into further detail.

“The triplet’s behavior pattern has only slightly altered Sir. A person would not have noticed unless they were looking for it. And being that I was, and that I’m not a person, I saw the pattern.” Jarvis began.

“Oh come on Jarvis you’re as human as I am!” Tony chided absent mindedly as he continued work on his suit.

“Coming from a man who is known as Iron man really means a lot, thank you Sir.” Jarvis snarked.

“That’s fair.” Tony allowed.

“As I was saying, since the _incident_ the three have begun to do things, well the only word that could really describe it is in sync.” He explained.

Tony paused in his movements to look up, as a holo-screen of the girls playing in the living room appeared in front of him. He didn’t see anything wrong with the scene but then, without a word the three stood and made their way up the steps.

“Weird. That was weird right? Where are they going?” he asked.

“The bathroom sir. They seem to be using their link to anticipate the others needs and have used it to do everything together.” The A.I. explained.

“Is that bad?” Tony asked unsure.

“Not bad per se, children who have seen or experienced traumatic events cope in various ways. They for instance have not been out of the others’ sight since that day.” Jarvis concluded.

Tony let out a loud sigh. Watching as the girls returned from the bathroom to resume playing at the coffee table.

“My suggestion, if I may, is to talk to them about what happened, studies have shown that suppression of traumatic events in early childhood can hinder certain development skills.” Jarvis explained.

Tony wrinkled his nose in disgust, his “Talking it out” experience was a big zero.

“Another suggestion would be to have Ms. Potts help, I have already alerted her to the situation and she’ll be here tomorrow.” He informed him.

“God among men Jarvis. Couldn’t be prouder.” Tony praised before going back to work.

***************

The girls sat in the living room wide eyed at the TV screen.

“I want one.” Ana spoke as the credits rolled around.

“Need one.” Chryssy remedied.

“Jarvis?” Alex called.

“Yes Miss. Alex?” Jarvis acknowledged.

“Look up the known schematics and features of the gadget mobile and cross match it to the closest car model that currently exist.” Alex requested.

“Miss I do-” Jarvis began to object.

“Please?” the three whined, turning their puppy dog eyes up to the ceiling, cutting off Jarvis’ protest.

There was a long pause, the girls continued their assault on Jarvis’ sentient feelings.

“The gadget mobile was based off of the 1964 Lincoln continental.” Jarvis announced.

The girls giggled excitedly at his compliance.

“Uhm is there an updated model?” Chryssy asked.

“The newer models lose the features of the car you wish to replicate Ms.” Jarvis pointed out.

“Dang it!” Ana murmured. “Fine keep the year, we’ll just have to round it out.” She mused aloud.

“Send out the order Jarvis.” Chryssy chimed.

“I have sent it to your father for approval.” Jarvis announced.

The girls froze before looking to each other.

“Race you to the basement!” Alex called out.

“Not fair!” Chryssy yelled after her retreating sister.

“And you call me the cheater!” Ana gawked before racing after her sisters.

 

“Daddy!!” They yelled.

Tony looked up from his project as the girls came running down the stairs full speed. Startled he looked to the glass door and then back to his daughters who showed no sign of stopping for it.

“Jarvis!” he bellowed.

Without another word the door to the workshop opened in time for the girls to come tumbling onto to the lab floor.

“Whoa, whoa slow your roll, Minions! Where’s the fire?” he asked.

Out of breath, Alex began “Jarvis just sent you a file!” she huffed out.

Right on queue there was an alert on his screen telling him of an incoming message. He looked to it as it pinged into existence.

“I can see that.” Tony agreed.

“Don’t open it!” Chryssy shrieked, stopping Tony’s movement to do just that.

“Well now I’m curious!” He teased.

“Daddy no!!! It’s a ummm…” Ana trailed off unsure of what to say.

“A Surprise!” Alex offered.

“Yeah a surprise!” Ana Agreed.

“Sooo, you can just approve it and we’ll get out of your way!” Chryssy concluded.

“Okay? Okay!” Ana exclaimed in excitement.

“Wait, what? Oh fine, what’s the worst that could happen? Oh and Pepper will be by tonight we need to talk with you.” He told them.

The girls paused mid victory dance to stare confused at their father.

“Talk?” Ana questioned.

“Yes. Talk. You know, that thing families do occasionally?” Tony reiterated.

“About what?” Chryssy asked perplexed.

“Whatever we’re in trouble for, they did it!” Ana stated, pointing an accusing finger towards her sisters

“Hey!!” Alex and Chryssy shouted indignantly.

“No one’s in trouble! Wait. What did you do?” he asked, barely suppressing a groan.

“Nothing!” The three shouted as they scurried out of the workshop.

“Wait girls!” Tony yelled after them.

“Not in trouble, got it!” Alex chimed.

“Talk with Pepper, got it!” Chryssy added.

“Don’t peak at the message!?” Ana reminded him.

“Got it!” Tony chuckled, finally giving in.

“Love you!” The girls shouted down to him.

“Love you more!” He returned.

There was a small breeze forming beside him, he turned to look as Ana appeared next to him, only to slowly begin to disappear again.

“More than you’ll ever know!” she chuckled darkly, before disappearing out of sight.

“Jesus kid! Stop doing that!!” Tony yelled up the stairs.

The only response was her maniacal chuckles being played by Jarvis over the intercom.

“Stop that!” he complained to his A.I.

The laughter faded out before his workshop was silent.

“My apologies sir, the young Miss insisted.” Jarvis explained in an amused tone.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure she did.” Tony replied with a shake of his head.

 

Tony, Pepper and the girls were sat at the dining room table, the triplets squirming in their seats in anticipation of the coming talk they were to endure.

“How are you today ladies?” Pepper asked earnestly

Alex looked to her sisters, where she sat between them before looking up to Pepper.

“Umm good, I guess?” she answered.

Tony nodded at the answer before looking over to Pepper.

“See Pep! Just great! How about some pizza?” Tony proclaimed before moving to stand from his chair.

Pepper gave him a look, halting his movements to stand from the table. Resigned he retook his seat.

“Look, girls your father and I just want to talk to you about what happened last week.” Pepper said, deciding to just get to the point.

“OH! That.” Chryssy chortled nonchalantly.

Pepper and Tony let out guffaws of disbelief at the child’s response.

Chryssy wrinkled her nose before looking to her sisters. “What? Was it something I said?” she asked confused by her parents’ reactions.

“Aren’t you the least bit shaken up?” Pepper queried.

“No?” Chryssy asked unsure of what her response should be.

At Tony and Peppers wide eyes she changed her answer.

“Yes…. Very shaken up?” she tried again.

Tony let his head hit the table while Pepper continued to look at her in shock.

“Look guys I’m getting mixed signals here.” She declared, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

“What Ms. Potts and Sir are trying to do is discuss the events that took place last week at Disney land. Sir believed that after you’d almost been taken it could have had a negative reaction on the three of you. You recent behavior has shown you are more prone to stick close together, going as far as going to the bathroom together.” Jarvis finished

The girls looked to each other wide eyed before schooling their features to look calm.

“Well, See? Crisis averted” Ana announced.

“Not traumatized! See!” Alex reiterated, the three smiling widely up at the adults.

“So long! Fare well and yata, yata!” Chryssy chimed in, as the three hopped down from the dining room table.

“FREEZE!” Tony ordered.

The girls froze mid stride, before turning to look at their dad.

“Yes, Father?” Ana asked cutely

“Uh huh, yeah what did you three do?” Tony coaxed.

“Do? Nothing. Nope! Nada!” Ana babbled.

“What did you think we wanted to talk about?” Pepper queried.

“The, Uh, the Vase!” Alex offered.

“The Vase?” Tony asked

“The vase!” the girls chorused.

“We played an outdoor sport, indoors, and next thing ya know boom, crash, bang, vase broken, we’re really sorry!” Alex explained.

“Terribly sorry!” Chryssy added.

“Nope uh, uh not buying it. Why have the three of you been going to the bathroom together?” Tony questioned.

“Is it so unbelievable for us, Triplets, to go to the bathroom together?” Alex countered.

And then a conversation the four of them had the night they returned from Disney came to him. Tony groaned.

 “No, see what’s unbelievable is that MY triplets would watch a movie that I Specifically said not to watch!” Tony responded giving Ana a pointed look.

Chryssy and Alex slapped their hands over Ana’s mouth knowing their sister was prone to tell the truth under pressure.

“I don’t know what you’re insinuating, Father!” Alex protested in mock outrage.

“Oh, oh, I think you know.” Tony prodded.

Chryssy shook her head. “Nope. No idea.” She denied.

“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you then. You three wanted to watch that Resident evil movie and I told you no, and for whatever ungodly reason you chose to do it anyway and now the three of you are terrified to go anywhere alone. Did I get the gist of it?” Tony finished.

In their shock the girls released Ana, allowing her to do what she did best.

“OH but she looked so cool on the cover, and then she just” Ana waved her hands in karate chop movements by way of explanation. “But then it was over and Chryssy had to potty, but didn’t want to go alone, but Alex and I didn’t have to potty, but we didn’t want to be alone. Though now that I think about we wouldn’t have been alone? Weird. So we all went! Now we’re able to have to pee at the same time so we just go together, because zombies.” Ana finished.

Alex and Chryssy could only nod in agreement.

“So you three have been going to the bathroom together not because you are too traumatized to ever be separated again, but because you watched a scary movie.

“Yup!” the three agreed.

“Wait!” Ana interjected. “Why would we be separated, if it’s because of the vase, we’re sorry! It really was an accident!” she wailed.

“Wait you actually broke a vase?” Tony questioned.

“Er no?” Chryssy denied, leaving not even herself convinced.

“Honestly you Starks.” Pepper said with a sigh.

“So pizza then?” Ana asked excitedly.

**************

Tony looked up from his workstation, not for the first time that day, to stare curiously at the giant curtain that divided the lab in half. The girls had started on their “secret project” and for whatever reason they refused to tell him what it was. He’d kept strong to his promise not to check the receipt bill they’d racked up, not that he was worried about the bill, no, it was the content that had him looking towards that dreaded curtain every five minutes.

“NO! NOT THERE!!” Alex shouted out before a loud bang reverberated through the lab.

Tony made to jump to his feet and check on them when Chryssy’s head popped around the curtain.

“We’re okay! Sorry!” the girl reassured, black smudges decorating her face.

“Are you sure?” he asked wide eyed. “What happened?”

“Uh just crossed some wires!” she replied just as the whoosh of a fire extinguisher went off.

She smiled brightly before ducking back behind the curtain.

Tony looked down to Athena, the cougar was curled up at his feet beneath the desk.

“You’d tell me what they were building if you could, right?” he asked futilely.

She only shrugged in response before resuming her nap.

Tony let out a deep sigh, this was mad! How was he supposed to get anything done when all he wanted to do was figure out what the girls were building?

Ana came toddling out moments later looking around the lab.

“Hey papa? Where’s the- oh never mind!” She said grabbing a canister.

Just as she moved to go back behind the curtain Pepper’s voice carried down the stairs.

“Tony You better be ready to leave for the meeting.” She warned.

Ana looked up at him in sympathy before returning back behind the curtain.

He sighed before heading up the stairs.

“Yeah all set, just need to grab something from upstairs!” he returned, clad in dress pants and an oil stained white undershirt.

The girls listened to Tony’s ascent up the stair until his footsteps faded away.

Ana sighed out in relief, looking to her sisters as she spoke.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this from him!” she whined out.

Alex crawled out from beneath the car lifting her goggles as she stood.

“Well it was your idea to surprise him!” she reminded, taking a seat on the lab floor.

“I know, I know! It’s just he seems so lonely, maybe we can give it to him before his birthday?” she asked hopefully

The other two shrugged

“If you want?” Alex offered with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh I want!” she crowed.

The three had already gutted out the inside of the Lincoln, adding the quirks they loved about the gadget mobile. They were currently putting the finishing touches on the car. The original 64 Lincoln had been too low to the ground so they had Jarvis help them with raising the frame of the car as well as rounding it out to the figure of a Rolls Royce without losing the classic outline of the continental. To keep with their fathers Superhero M.O. the car was an eye catching two toned hot rod red on the top half of the car and gold on the bottom half. The interior was also gold with Black décor for the finish.

“Hey Jarvis how’s it feel in there?” Chryssy asked the AI.

They had recently added the necessary system to allow Jarvis the ability to control the car. The idea was that Tony would be able to drive the car when he wanted and Jarvis would essentially be his co-pilot taking the wheel whenever prompted to do so, Jarvis also had full reign of the car when needed. Being that none of the cars current occupants were over the age of five, he was needed. The car was currently lifted off the ground, low enough so the girls could still reach it and climb freely from the seats, but high enough that the car wasn’t touching the ground and they could work beneath it.

“Shall I begin running the modulation?” he asked. His voice coming from the speakers in the car rather than the house.

Ana squealed with glee in response, Alex and Chryssy jumping up and down in excitement.

Without another word the car roared to life before settling into a low rumble.

Alex laughed maniacally “It’s alive!”

“Say the words, say the words!” Chryssy prompted, clapping excitedly.

“Welcome to the Iron Mobile, if you would take your seats we can begin our diagnostics.” Jarvis Parroted.

The girls giggled excitedly before crawling into the car as it lowered down to the floor.

As they got situated the seat belts fastened into place around them.

“Testing hydraulics.” Jarvis announced, just as the car began to bounce up and down.

The three cougars who had been resting peacefully in the backseat quickly leapt from the car as it continued bouncing.

“Air conditioning fully functional.” Jarvis continued the quiet hum of the air conditioning coming to life as he spoke.

The convertible top rose above them latching into place just as the doors locked with a click.

From the front seat Alex watched the wheel turn, as Jarvis checked the tire rotation.

The rearview mirrors began to flex up and down before situating into a fixed position.

“GPS satellites are online, shall we take a drive around the manor?” Jarvis questioned.

“Not tonight Jarvis just try going forward then backwards and test the brake pads.” Alex informed him.

The car slowly rolled forwards before coming to a smooth stop, returning backwards he repeated the process once more before returning the gear shift to park, then lowering the convertible top.

“The Iron Mobile seems to be fully functioning. Well done on the propulsion systems, your father will be quite pleased with the outcome, if I do say so.” Jarvis finished, his voice returning to the house intercom.

“Devochki! Dinner is ready, come get cleaned up!” Oksana called over the intercom.

“Coming!” the three yelled before pulling the tarp they used to hide the car over their finished product.

The four sat alongside the cougars in the dining room eating with the TV on in the living room for background noise.

As they began to eat a low growling began to sound. The girls looked up confused to find Athena growling at the TV.

Getting up the triplets and Oksana came to stand in front of the TV, Jarvis increasing the volume from its lowered state.

“Two masked assailants have begun an assault on the Stark industries office building.” The news anchor explained as explosions sounded in the background. “It is unclear if Iron Man will make an appearance to combat the two, even as they launch what clearly is a challenge to the new superhero. The question is will he answer?”

“Mute!” Chryssy called, the television immediately going silent in response

“Jarvis does he have any of his Iron man suits with him?” she asked

“The portable suit is still under production, sir is currently unarmed.” Jarvis answered

“Jarvis how do you feel about a test run?” Ana asked as the three raced to the lab.

“Need I remind you the Iron Mobile has not been road tested Miss?” Jarvis started.

“Well there’s no time like the present!” She returned.

“Jarvis I know we didn’t get the chance to test the weapons systems but you did say everything seemed to be fully functioning, right?” Alex asked.

Jarvis hesitated momentarily before answering. “All of my test have come back positive.” He responded.

“That’s good enough for me. Look I need you to take one of his suits to him. Why not use this as a test drive?” Alex offered.

“The Mark 4 should be ready for transport. It’s the only suit that doesn’t require the home system to assemble.” Jarvis offered.

The girls let out a “Whoop!” before running to the computer to release the Iron man suit.

 

Tony sat in the board room on the 10th floor as the suits continued to discuss... Whatever… He let out what seemed to be the hundredth sigh.

Pepper nudged him to pay attention from her seat beside him. In response he gave her a “What do you want me to do” shrug. She rolled her eyes just as the first tremble happened.

Tony looked up before running to the window. Outside on the street two masked ape like figures appeared to be tackling the building. Tony stared down confused as the two stepped back from the building, before standing unusually close to each other.

“What the He-” Tony began to yell, he was cut off as the duo threw an object that immediately exploded upon impact shaking the building once again. The two roared in unison.

Tony bolted from the meeting room calls of “Mr. Stark!” followed him out into the hall.

He opted for the stairs as he rung Happy.

“Hogan are you seeing this? Where are you?” he asked, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Sorry! I stopped for Burgers, what do you need?” the man asked around a mouth full of food.

“How far are you from the house? I need a suit.” Tony rushed out

“It’ll take a minute! You don’t have one that can like… I don’t know… Come to you?” he asked.

“A work in progress! Let me know when you get it” Tony called as he reached the last flight of stairs.

“Got it boss!” Happy returned before hanging up.

Tony ran for the front doors just as one of the creatures picked up a reporter. What seemed to be fangs dropped down from the ape’s mouth before it bit into the side of the woman’s neck.

“Yo! Dracula!” Tony called because apparently vampire apes were a thing now. “Why don’t you put the nice lady down?” Tony tried.

The ape immediately dropped the woman to the ground to focus intently on Tony.

“Gently!” Tony taunted.

“Stark!” It growled out inhumanly.

“Oh good you can talk!” He teased.

The ape roared alerting his partner to the appearance of their target. Together they marched towards him before breaking into a sprint.

“Oh shit” Tony yelled, trying to put some distance between himself and the two beast.

Just as they were closing in the sound of an engine roaring had Tony and the apes looking for the source.

In the blink of an eye a red and gold car slammed into the two, sending them sailing through the air. The car made an impressive arc into a U turn, the driver side door opening for Tony as it pulled to a stop. Upon seeing the empty driver seat Tony stared at it in confusion.

“Hello Mr. Stark, it appears you are in need of assistance?” The car greeted.

“Jarvis? Is that you buddy?” Tony asked excitedly as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

“It would appear so.” The AI snarked.

“How the hell are you a car?” Tony demanded, just as the two apes began to stand. They roared furiously at the interruption before charging ahead.

“Safety first.” Jarvis responded in his crisp British accent, as the seat belt fastened around Tony.

He looked down surprised as it snapped into place before looking over startled as the gear shift moved into reverse the tires squealing as Jarvis sped backwards from the oncoming enemy.

“The girls were saving it for your birthday, under the current circumstance they allowed me to take it on a test run. I believe a demonstration is in order.  If you would press the gold button on the steering wheel we can get started.” Tony nodded dumbly before pressing the button. Gears began to whir to life as two repulsors went off from each headlight sending the two apes, sprawling in different directions.

“By the way Sir, I’ve brought the Mark 4 if you’d prefer to use it” Jarvis added.

Tony looked in the back seat to see one of his Iron man suits buckled in like a waiting passenger. Tony shook his head with a small smile before climbing into the backseat to get the suit on.

“Keep ’em busy J.” Tony ordered.

“It would be my pleasure.” Jarvis informed him.

One of the apes was once again running towards him though this time it was at least bleeding. Jarvis logged that information for later use before swerving out of the way as the ape made to tackle the car. Spinning out he fishtailed, hitting the ape with the rear end of the car. Jarvis unashamedly rolled over the ape’s foot as he sped towards the other creature attempting to stand up.

Tony chuckled from the backseat. “Relentless!”

As Tony finally got the suit on Jarvis sent the convertible top down allowing tony to easily exit the car door.

“The apes appear to energize each other, the closer to the other they get the stronger they are, in tandem the farther apart they are” Jarvis trailed off.

“The weaker they get.” Tony finished allowing his face plate to drop into place.

 

The girls watched the news footage as the Iron Mobile and Iron man sped off into opposite directions, taking one of the apes with them. When the car came to a stop the ape went flying into the side of a building before breaking into a cloud of green smoke disappearing completely.

Iron man fired a repulsor at the ape, ending in the same result, green particles evaporating into the air where the creature once was. Tony looked at it disgusted before turning at the sound of a vehicle approaching. He turned to see his silver Audi pull to a stop beside him.

“I got the suit!” Happy yelled from the driver’s window, only to stare confused at seeing Tony already in the Iron Man suit. He let his head fall to the steering wheel in exasperation.

The red and gold car pulled to a stop in front of Tony just as the crowd began cheering.

“Tony!” Pepper yelled as she ran towards the group. “Who’s in the other car?” she asked, looking from the Audi where Happy was still banging his head on the steering wheel to the empty driver’s seat of the Lincoln.

“Good evening Ms. Potts.” Jarvis greeted.

“Jarvis how are you driving?” she questioned.

“Early birthday gift” Tony announced as he stepped out of his suit.

“They didn’t!” Pepper said in awe.

“They did!” Tony cheered as he began circling the car, admiring the work his girls had put forth.

“Might I suggest taking it for a spin?” Jarvis suggested.

“I can drive it?” Tony asked surprised.

“Indeed sir you’ll just need to come up with a phrase to initiate the override.” Jarvis explained. The girls had opted to let Tony come up with his own protocols, figuring they’d have time after they’d given him his gift.

“Backseat Driver Protocol!” Tony yelled immediately as he hopped into the seat.

Pepper giggled as Happy looked at them confused.

“What’d I miss?” he asked the two.

She only shook her head in response guiding the Mark 4 into the back seat of the Audi before happy came around to get her door.

Tony gripped the steering wheel excitedly as the seat belt fastened around him.

“Let’s see what I’m working with, hmm Jarvis?” Tony called.

“Scouting a route for home that is clear of traffic. Please follow the on screen guidance to navigate idle pedestrians.” Tony watched as the windshield dimly lit up, mimicking the inside of his helmet display while keeping his line of sight clear, he followed the blue lines leading him out of the crowd. He revved the engine one more time before zooming around the crowd and out of the complex, leaving the crowd staring behind him.

 

“It worked!” the girls sang as they danced around the living room. Oksana nodded along as she smiled at their antics.

“Jarvis you Rock!” Alex told the AI.

“It was my pleasure.” He returned.

“How about dessert?” Oksana called as she made her way back into the kitchen, the girl’s hurriedly following behind her.

Athena watched the TV contently beside her brothers as Tony sped off Camera, the silver Audi speeding after it in an attempt to catch up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy sooooo... what did you think!!!!!  
> I think this is my second favorite chapter!!! the first being the first chapter!!! Go Go Jarvis!!!!


	18. Beach Trips and Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyy New chapter!!!!!! Sorry it took so long!!!

“And go!” Alex shrieked, before she began jumping over her rolling siblings.

The five, including their feline companions were laid out parallel to each other as they rolled towards Alex who would land in between each of them as she jumped. When she finished she laid down as Ana stood to take her turn.

Oksana watched the girls and the kittens rolling over each other in the living room. She sighed before clicking her tongue. "Let’s go Devochki"

“Go?” Alex questioned, as they continued to roll.

“Go where?” Ana finished excitedly, landing between Hades and Zeus.

“Does it matter?” Chryssy questioned the two.

 The group froze in place before erupting into giggles. Getting themselves together they ran upstairs to get their backpacks.

 

“Invisible Jarvis?” Oksana called for the AI.

“Yes Ms. Rogov?” He greeted, a hint of humor in his voice.

“Please tell Anthony the girls and I will be out this afternoon, and I let the kittens outside.”

“Of course madam.”

The girls came bounding down the stairs wearing matching jean shorts and tank tops, their brown curly hair pulled into two waist length pigtails decorated with red ribbons. Sunglasses adorned their faces, and their backpacks were pulled over their shoulders as they announced they were ready to go.

“Did you put on the sunblock?” Oksana asked

“Yes!” they chorused

“Can we go now?” Chryssy asked, bouncing in place.

She smiled in response before leading the way into the garage where her blue Volkswagen Cabriolet was parked

“Can we ride with the top down?” Ana asked grinning widely.

The woman chuckled before agreeing.

Deciding on going to the beach Oksana changed the girls into suits in the back seat before letting them loose on the empty beach.

Alex immediately dove into the water while Ana dove into the sand as if it Were the ocean.  Chryssy opted to sit on the shoreline, watching the waves roll in and out.

Oksana set up her beach chair close by and pulled out her current read, diving into her own adventure.

Ana peeked her head out from the sand, spotting Chryssy sitting on the shoreline she silently giggled before slowly sinking down into the sand. Pushing forward she maneuvered her way through the dunes toward her sister.

She popped out of the sand beside her. “ROAR!” she yelled, startling her sister.

Chryssy let out a shrill scream while simultaneously throwing the wet sand she had been playing with at the disturbance.

Ana sat silently while the wet sand slid from her face, chunks of it slightly sticking to her cheek.

Chryssy collapsed into fits of giggles.

“Ha ha.” Ana mocked before burying her sister neck deep into the sand with the wave of her hand.

Chryssy’s giggles cut off. Sending her sister a glare, she unearthed one of her hands before sending her sister flying into the ocean on a strong wind.

Ana giggled wickedly as she curled into a cannon ball.

 

Alex peeked over her shoulder as she swam, not needing to come up for air. A small fish had been following her for the last few minutes, noting it was still there she quickly camouflaged with the ocean allowing the fish to swim past her. It stopped suddenly, swimming left and right confused. Silently giggling she reappeared behind the fish.

“Are you following me?” She spoke to it.

The fish immediately puffed up in fright.

“Oh don’t be scared!” She giggled out, as it continued to drift about.

Slowly the fish returned to its smaller size seeming to sigh in relief.

“There you go!” she cooed happily.

The next moment Alex felt a slight disturbance shift in the air just above the water. She heard the distorted yell of "Canon Ball!” Just as Ana came crashing into the water. Her new friend puffing up again at the entry. 

 As the water settle Ana grinned happily at her sister only to notice a frown marring her features, she glanced beside her noting confusedly the puffer fish ballooned up beside her floating aimlessly.

“Hehehe, umm oops?” she tried.

Alex only glared.

“SORRY!!!” Ana yelled as she went soaring through the air once again. This time she opted to slow her descent, landing as light as a cat on the shore. Looking around she saw that Chryssy was still dusting sand off when she seemed to decide washing it off in the ocean was the better option.

Ana turned to the sleeping Babulya, grinning devilishly she began to sink into the sand.

“DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.” Okasana called to her, eyes still closed.

Ana froze. Shrugging she ambled back to the water to dig up sand.

She grouped up the wet sand she collected, letting it float behind her as she grabbed the pail she'd brought along. Dropping the wet sand into it she pulled all of her necessary tools out of her backpack before she plopped down to begin work on her sand castle. Alex and Chryssy soon joining her with their own shovel and bucket in hand.

Oksana looked up to check on the girls only to see the sandcastle that was currently standing at the girls' height. The three were sat on the ground working on what she assumed to be a mote. She snapped a quick picture of the three before sending it to Jarvis' mainframe and making it her new background picture.

 

 

 Ana, Chryssy, and Alex sat watching their father work from the air ducts. They watched as he worked on a device, while discussing mechanics with Jarvis.

“Somethings Wrong!” Alex whined.

“He’s starting to smell different too” Chryssy agreed.

“He’s been really tired lately! He hasn’t played twister with me in like ever!” Ana complained.

“Oh Sestra…” Chryssy groaned, while Alex shook her head.

They continued to watch as Tony opened the Arc reactor, he removed what seemed to be a burnt piece before replacing it with a new one. The man sighed as he looked at the destroyed piece before tossing it.

“What is that?” Ana asked alarmed.

“I think that’s the thing that powers the Arc Reactor” Chryssy answered dubiously.

“Is it supposed to be smoking like that? Jarvis? Is it supposed to be smoking like that?” Alex queried, looking down at the small wrist watch on her hand.

The three were working on making Jarvis more portable so they’d added a program to a watch that connected wirelessly to the server Jarvis traveled through.

“The element known as palladium is currently powering the arc reactor, Sir appears to be depleting the core at increasing rates. The smoking is the sign of a depleted core.” Jarvis explained.

“Yeah but that’s inside of him? Is it hurting him?” Alex asked

Jarvis paused momentarily unsure how to answer the question without upsetting them.

“The side effects of the power source have some consequences.” He returned

Alex wrinkled her nose as he evaded her question. “What are the side effects of him using Palladium to power the Arc Reactor?” she asked quietly.

Jarvis didn’t respond.

“It’s hurting him isn’t it!!! He can’t DIE!” Ana cried, her voice echoing through the vents.

Alex and Chryssy quickly slapped a hand over Ana’s mouth, as they waited with baited breath to see if they’d been caught. When it was clear they hadn’t, Alex sent Ana a halfhearted glare before maneuvering the vent system to their room. Once there, the three crowded around a laptop as Alex looked up Palladium and how it worked, she sat back in her seat after reading up on the material.

“So the neutron bombardment is what’s eroding the Palladium cores?” she asked

“Yes, that is correct.” Jarvis answered.

“You definitely bailed on us back there Jar!” Chryssy shrieked in dismay.

“My Apologies, Sir has me under strict orders not to inform anyone of his current predicament. I am unable to assist you with information regarding Sir’s current health.” He explained.

“Why would he do that?” Ana asked

“It must be really bad!” Alex guessed.

“We’re going to need some outside help” Chryssy announced after a pause.

Catching on Alex nodded in agreement.

“Jarvis, when’s their next trip to New York?” Ana queried

“In three days, Sir has a zoning ordinance to see about.” Jarvis responded.

“That will have to do. Be right back.” Alex announced.

They watched as their sister left the room before they had Jarvis follow her with a camera linked to the laptop.

Alex pushed open the glass door to the workshop, watching as Tony zipped up his hoodie tighter around his neck. She ignored the movement in favor of her plan.

She wrinkled her nose before doing what she did best.

She let out a short sniffle, before allowing a small whimper to escape.

Tony’s head immediately snapped up, alarmed at what he knew was sure to follow.

“Hey Gidget, what’s wrong?” he asked, slowly standing from his seat.

As if those were the magic words she let out a wail that could rival a banshee’s as she allowed the water works to begin.

Upstairs Ana and Chryssy watched the screen entranced as their sister worked her magic. Oksana passed by the door peaking in to check on the girls. Seeing them huddled around the computer she moved closer. The three watched as Tony ran frantically towards the screaming child.

 

“Alex, please baby! What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Talk to me kid” Tony prattled anxiously.

“You’re leaving!” She sobbed out.

Tony looked panicked at his child before pulling her into his arms. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“You’re going to New York again!” she cried into his shirt.

Tony relaxed at her words. “It’s only for two days! I’ll be right back!” he tried.

“NO! You can’t leave!” she cried gripping his hoodie tight in her fingers as she stared up into his eyes. Direct eye contact was key.

He stared down at her before sighing. “I could just send Pepper?” he offered, only for Alex to cry harder. He stared down at her in disbelief, how could such a small child make such a ruckus?

“Pepper’s going too? Why can’t we go Papa? Why do you keep leaving us?” Alex asked.

Tony’s heart broke, is that what he’d been doing. He figured since he usually was there when they were awake and home that his business trips weren’t any harm. According to his four year old he was wrong.

“What do you want me to do kid?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.

“You could always bring us with you! We can visit Uncle Nick while you do whatever! Then we can be together!” she mumbled, her face pressed to his chest.

Tony dragged a hand through his hair “I mean, if that’s what you want?” he offered unsure.

“Oh I want!” she told him with hopeful watery eyes.

Tony chuckled before kissing her on the forehead. “Whatever you want Gidget.” He told her.

She smiled happily before meeting his eyes. “Just you Papa! Always you!” she said kissing his cheek. Tony watched her leave the workshop, still seated on the floor. How was he going to fix this? He groaned before falling back to the floor.

 

Chryssy, Ana, and Oksana watched the screen transfixed by the small girl.

Oksana snorted “She is good.” Shaking her head she left the room. “Just me and the kittens then!” she laughed happily as she exited.

Ana and Chryssy looked to the “kittens” taking up the space on their bed, the four had grown a lot in the last few months.

Alex came skipping into the room happily with three popsicles, retaking her seat beside Ana.

“Sestra, you scare me.” Chryssy told her with wide eyes.

She only grinned in response before handing out the frozen treats.

 

The girls sat in the lobby of the building, Pepper and Tony were running late and the woman at the desk Promised Happy that she’d watch them until Coulson came down for them. Though as soon as he’d left she returned to her previous task ignoring the girls completely, which suited them just fine.

They watched as a man in a suit walked to the elevator, swiping a keycard he stepped on the doors sliding shut behind him.

Calmly the girls got up and began walking down the hall.

“Where are you going?” the woman asked startled to no longer find them sitting down.

Alex repressed an eye roll. “I said, we have to go to the bathroom. You said it was this way?”

The woman looked confused, nodding she returned to her work. “Yeah it’s that way.” She said pointing down the hallway the girls were headed towards.

The girls nodded, continuing their walk down the hall. Doors lined it left and right, finding the restroom they walked in, they smiled at a woman who was washing her hands and entered a stall.

After hearing her leave Chryssy quickly ran to check the other stalls. As she did, Ana pulled her StarkPad out from her backpack, a prototype they’d been helping Tony with. With aid from Jarvis she brought up schematics of the building. Quickly locating there uncle’s office, she closed the tablet before returning it to her bag.

When she looked up Alex was standing on top of the toilet seat with Chryssy seated on her shoulders, the open vent waiting above them.

Chryssy hoisted Ana into the air, using the momentum Ana pushed off the side of the stall before gripping onto the entrance to the vent. Pulling herself in she took a moment to make sure the coast was clear. Attaching a magnet to the side of the wall she threw the rope attached to it down to her sisters who immediately began to climb it.

Situated in the vent the girls began their journey.

“Why aren’t we waiting for Agent Coulson again?” Chryssy asked

“Because if he didn’t want us to go exploring he would have been waiting in the lobby for us. He clearly won’t mind if we go ourselves.” Ana explained.

Her sister could only nod at her logic.

As they began crawling through the vents Ana heard the sounds of fighting down below. Crawling towards a vent to get a closer look she motioned for her sisters to come closer.

In what appeared to be a training room a red headed woman stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by six men. She calmly stood watching each one, the men seemed to fidget uneasily. A small smirk graced the woman’s face as she made eye contact with one of the males. The man’s eyebrow twitched before he charged at her, the rest of the group following his lead.

The girls watched as the woman dropped into a fighting stance.

The man went to throw a punch, but the red head was ready. She leaned out of the way, whilst grabbing his wrist. Going with his momentum she yanked it forward before driving her knee into his abdomen, as he crouched over in pain she held tight to his wrist as she rolled over his back to land a well place kicked to the next man’s throat. There was a small cracking noise the triplets picked up on as the woman broke the wrist she’d finally let go of. She turned just as another man came to grab her from behind, as he grabbed around her waist she grabbed around his neck, he immediately released her, but it was too late. Jumping in the air she grabbed a hold of his arm, and as she made her descent she came down with enough force to throw the man over her shoulder and onto his back. She turned back around and ran, using one of the men on the ground like a stool, she jumped from him as another man came running towards her. She wrapped her legs around his neck, and twisted her body to send the man sprawling to the ground. The last two men stopped their pursuit to look at her hesitantly.

“Come on boys, you wouldn’t keep a lady waiting.” She taunted.

One seemed to take a steadying breath before he charged ahead.

The red head tsked before sending him sprawling with a spin kick to the face. Grabbing the fist of the man who’d tried to catch her off guard she twisted it, pulling it forward she jumped using his shoulder to help wrap her legs around his neck. In the next instant she spun downwards flipping him onto his back in the process. 

The man double tapped her leg in defeat. She released him and stood looking around at her good work.

“You boys had enough yet?” she taunted.

Their response was a series of loud groans, none of the men making any moves to get up from their position on mats. The woman relaxed her stance as she chuckled.

The girls sat gaping at the woman.

“How di-” Ana began, only to cut off when the woman turned her gaze turned towards their vent.

Alex startled, before rushing her sisters down the vent shaft.

When they finally approached the dead end they were looking for, Alex began unscrewing the panel that was just big enough for them to fit through. When she removed it they looked into an elevator shaft, watching as the gears moved anchoring the elevators. As the closest one began its ascent Alex steeled herself before leading the group out of the vent. With a small gust of wind the three lowered themselves on top of the elevator, landing without a sound. Quickly Chryssy began unscrewing the top panel of the elevator, she peeked in to make sure the elevator was empty before nodding to Alex.  Pulling a device from her pocket she pointed it at the camera in the corner of the elevator freezing the picture to make it seem empty. The three dropped into the elevator in another gust of wind. Ana hit the 11th floor button on the wall panel, it highlighted red before the elevator stopped moving. She looked confused before realization dawned on her.

“Oh Right!” she announced, pulling a keycard from her pocket. She swiped it through the scanner before re-pressing the button.  

“Verification please” the robotic voice prompted.

Alex stepped forward holding down the mic button as she held up her wrist watch.

“Agent Brandt Coles, and guests.” The device offered in a man’s voice they didn’t recognize.

“Access granted.” The robotic voice answered, as the elevator continued its ascent.

“Thanks Jarvis.” Alex offered.

“It was my pleasure.” he said from the watch before going silent.

After quickly exiting the elevator the girls swiftly made their way through the halls.

When they came across a woman sitting behind a desk in front of a door, they knew they were there.

Alex looked at her watch just as the woman stood to stretch leaving the desk and walking in the opposite direction.

“Right on schedule!” she said with a smirk.

“How’d you do that?” Chryssy asked.

Alex giggled in response.

Ana lead them to the nook before going to open the door. When she turned the handle the door didn’t budge

“It’s locked!” she whisper shrieked to her sisters.

Chryssy rolled her eyes before grabbing their hands. She pulled them behind the desk so not to be seen before vanishing from the spot.

As they reappeared on the other side of the door she turned to Ana.

“It’s locked.” She mimicked.

“I was just saying!” Ana defended

Alex let out a small giggle before sitting down in the chair in front of the desk that occupied the room, her sisters quickly joining her, Chryssy taking the seat beside her while Ana opted for sitting in the big rolling chair behind the desk. Pulling out coloring books the three waited patiently for their uncle’s return.

Nick Fury paced the room currently occupied by trembling Agents, he loved it when they trembled.

“That was the Second time this week, if it happens again…” he trailed off glaring with his one eye.

The Agents nodded profusely.

“You’re dismissed.”

The agents filed out of the room avoiding making eye contact. As the last one left his ear piece beeped.

“Sir the girls aren’t in the lobby.” Coulson said over the com.

Nick let his head drop in exasperation, it was always something.

“I’m on it.” he responded before stalking from the room.

As he made his way to his office Regina, his assistant, was retaking her seat.

“Good evening Sir.” she said with a terse nod.

“No one in?” He asked

“And no one out.” She finished, resuming her desk work.

Nick moved to the door but froze upon hearing singing coming from behind the door.

Nick looked to the heavens, questioning what he could have done to deserve such torment before he unlocked the door. He noted the singing stopped as the lock clicked, before letting it swing open.

His desk chair spun around to show Ana, her legs crossed and her arms behind her head.

“Ah, Uncle Director Pirate, we’ve been expecting you.” She announced.

At his raised eyebrow Alex and Chryssy waived excitedly from their chairs. He chuckled to himself before closing the door behind him.

“Can I have my chair back?” He asked already knowing the answer.

The three only giggled.

“Please have a seat.” Ana offered, motioning towards the couch on the side of his office.

“I bet you’re wondering why we brought you here today.” Ana queried.

Nick sat down with a loud sigh. “I thought it was because your father and Ms. Potts had a meeting, I’m guessing you three have ulterior motives?” he said leaning back on the couch.

“Ulterior motives? Us?” Alex asked innocently.

Nick only raised an eyebrow in response.

The three broke into laughter before running over to the man.

“Uncle Nick!” They shouted, tackling the man into a hug he wouldn’t dare avoid.

The three settled down beside him.

“We really did want to see you!” Ana said with wide eyes

“But?” he prompted.

“But we need your help.” Chryssy finished.

“My help? The Trescotts three need my help?” Nick joked.

The three looked down sad, not meeting his eye.

Nick sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Papa’s in trouble.” Ana told him.

The three explained Tony’s predicament, how the device keeping him alive was doing more harm than good.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked baffled

“Not what you can do, but what you can offer.” Alex began.

“We know he can figure it out, but this is really taking its toll on him!” Chryssy continued.

“Sooo, we figured we could by him some more time. Only we have to figure out how to combat the Neutron bombardment that’s causing the Palladium core to erode, we could easily oxidize it, but I’m not sure what effects it could have on the chemical compound!” Ana babbled.

“I have no idea what you just said kid, but what I’m getting here is you need more time. If your father is anything like Howard, he’ll start to lose hope, he may even act out. I’m not sure how much of an influence you three have on him to keep him from his old ways.” Nick thought out loud.

At their confused looks he cleared his throat. “Changed man that he is, he’s still human. I’ll have someone monitor him to make sure you three are safe and that things stay in control.”  

“We can take care of ourselves!” Ana argued.

“Fine! But if I think things are going downhill, I’m sending someone in.” Nick deadpanned eliciting sighs from his small companions.

“Do we have a deal?” he asked making eye contact with each girl. Seeing there nods of approval Nick relaxed.

“Now tell me about this Iron man mobile, did your father build it?” he asked

“We made it! It was supposed to be for his birthday but someone got impatient” Chryssy said with a pointed look at Ana.

She only shrugged in agreement.

“How come he gets all the cool gadgets?” Nick asked in outrage, eliciting giggles from the three girls.  

“We’ll work on something, IF you get us that woman’s autograph!” Alex offered dazed.

“What woman?” he asked dubiously.

“You should have seen her uncle Nick!” Ana shrieked excitedly as she regaled the story of the red haired woman’s battle against the six men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes? No? LIkes? Dislikes??? Thanks for Reading!!!!


	19. Test Drives and Field trips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop!! new chapter. I was a little nervous about posting this one, but my beta convinced me it was good!! So here we go!!!

Tony was once again annoyed. That damn curtain was back and once again the girls wouldn't tell him what they were doing.

"Are you sure you don't need any help" he questioned.

"It's just a-" Chryssy began.

"I know, I know a tune up." He repeated with a frustrated sigh. That morning the girls had commandeered the Iron Man mobile for maintenance. If it was a tune up then why did they need the curtain? And second why couldn't he help?

Heaving another sigh he turned in his chair to work on modifications to his suits ... He needed it to be more mobile. Leaning back in his chair he began to think...

 Alex came from around the curtain wearing jean overalls and a red bandana, her two pigtails sticking out of the sides, grease smeared on her cheek. Tony chuckled, as she climbed into his lap. Pulling out a rag he began wiping it off, ignoring her grumbles of protest.

"What cha doin?” She asked when he finished.

"Thinking of a way to make the suit more portable." He answered absentmindedly.

"Ooh what if you built a shrink ray?" she asked with wide eyes

"What? Why?" he asked, staring at the child in bewilderment.

"Because then you could put it in one of those big purses you wear when Pepper makes you go to the bore meetings." she said as she climbed down, heading back to her sisters.

Tony stared bewildered as she left. What could she be talk-

"It's called a BRIEF CASE, MINION!! A Brief CASE" He told her.

"Yeah that!" she said with a shrug before disappearing behind the curtain.

Tony let out a chuckle "bore meeting, good one." He mumbled to himself, and then it hit him.

"Iron man suit in a brief case? Huh..." he thought aloud as he swiveled his chair back around. He glanced at his display that held his suits, noticing one was missing Tony's eyes grew.

"Girls?" he called.

"Yes?" The three shouted, halting in their movements.

"Where's my Iron Man suit?" He questioned.

"You have like six! Which one?" Chryssy replied.

"The mark 4 is missing!" he returned.

There was silence before the three poked their heads out from behind the curtain.

"We don't know ask Jarvis!" They said in unison.

"Jarvis?" he asked, turning his gaze to the ceiling out of habit.

"Maintenance sir.” was the A.I’s only response.

Tony dropped his head in exasperation, shooting the girls a halfhearted glare as they giggled at his predicament.

********

Tony and the girls were headed home from one of their Daddy Daughter dates, something Pepper would set up for them three times a month. The girls had insisted on taking the Iron man mobile for an actual test run, unlike the last time when it was used to transport his suit.

Tony listened as the girls chatted excitedly in the back seat about a new routine Oksana was teaching them.

“Pardon my interruption, but it appears we are being followed.” Jarvis announced.

Tony growled in frustration, glancing into the rear view mirror to see three non-descript black sedans tailing them.

“Can you lose them?” Ana asked from the backseat.

“Jarvis give me an on screen route.” Tony ordered.

A transparent grid appeared on the windshield on the passenger side, Tony glanced at it before taking a sharp right.

“Hang on!” he yelled.

Alex turned in her seat to see the first car continue straight while the other two stayed with them.

Tony sped up before making a series of turns that matched the highlighted roads on the display screen.

When he looked up he realized he’d made a mistake, the three cars were coming from each direction straight for them. Quickly fishtailing Tony made a U-turn before picking up speed, the three cars doing the same. The car in the lead sped up bumping into the rear of the car. Tony gripped the wheel trying to keep the car from spinning out of control.

“Daddy do something!” Ana screamed.

“My suit is in the trunk, I can’t do anything without pulling over, which isn’t really an option!” he returned.

The girls paused before looking at each other until finally Alex let out a sigh.

“Will none of his birthday presents make it until his actual birthday?” she questioned.

“What?” Tony asked glancing at her in the mirror.

“Jarvis take the wheel!” the girls shouted when the sedan once again rammed into the back of the car.

Tony immediately turned in his seat to question them only for Ana to interrupt.

Chryssy’s and Alex’s eyes began to glow blue, just as the ground began to quake. Cracks in the road behind them began to form slowing down the vehicles in pursuit of them as they dodged each crevice

“Face forward, arms on the arm rest, feet firmly on the ground!” Ana instructed.

“Wait what?” he questioned.

“Daddy!” The three shouted.

“Fine, Fine!” he said, turning in his seat.

“Jarvis initiate Iron compact protocol!” Alex ordered.

 As his seat began to shift beneath him, Tony sat in amazement as it formed into the Mark 4 around his body.  Once the last pieces clicked into place the convertible went down allowing him to exit the car.

“So that’s where it went!” Tony said at last, his helmet com broadcasting through the car radio.

When the other car sped up through the labyrinth of cracked earth Tony intercepted it. Dropping down in front of the car, he braced himself as he pushed down on the hood of the Suv, sending the back into an arc as it flipped over to land on its roof.

As the two cars sped past he aimed eight well place miniature missiles into their tires, both spinning out of control before the one on the left rammed into the other sending them both off of the road.  

“Jarvis get them out of here!” he shouted just as the explosions went off.

“Right away sir” Jarvis responded, the top of the car going up to secure the girls once again.

Ana turned in her seat, watching as Tony followed above them before disappearing into the clouds. The three relaxed in their seat as Jarvis drove them home.

“Dad?” Alex called as they made their way through the door.

Tony sat waiting for them on the couch as the girls made their way over.

“How was the ride home?” he asked

“Uneventful!” Chryssy sighed plopping down on the seat beside him.

Tony let out a chuckle as he pulled Alex into his lap, Ana squeezing into the seat beside him and Chryssy.

“I’m sorry girls.” He said with a sigh.

The three looked up at him confused.

“Sorry for what?” Ana asked

Tony shook his head. “Next time we’ll keep the test drives on property.”

Alex shrugged before curling up against his chest, the four watching TV in comfortable silence until Tony spoke up.

“Hey how do you three feel about starting school?” Tony asked.

“School? You mean like kindergarten?” Chryssy asked confused.

Tony shook his head. “No! Professor Xavier is willing to work with the level you three are on, you wouldn’t have an official grade level until you finished testing though.” He explained further.

“Oh” Ana said in a small voice.

“Are you sending us away?” Alex questioned

 Tony didn’t respond.

“Look we’re really sorry for whatever we did!” Alex explained eyes wide.

“If it’s about the Mark 4, we were only borrowing it!” Ana continued.

“And technically we gave it right back!” Chryssy finished in a panic.

Tony looked at them startled. “What? No it’s not your fault, it’s just I don’t think it’s a good idea for you three to be here right now. Things are happening, and I just want you to be safe!” Tony explained.

“Are you in danger?” Chryssy questioned

“Yes.”

The girls gasped

“I mean no! No!”

“Are you not telling us something?” Alex prompted.

Chryssy elbowed her in the side earning a glare in return.

Tony eyed them for a second before repeating his question. “So School at Xavier’s?”

“We’re not in trouble?” Ana questioned.

Tony shook his head. “No”

“And we can come home and visit when we want?” Chryssy added.

“I’ll set up a few days each week where we can stay at the New York house and you can go to school from there if you want?” Tony offered

“Yeah okay.” Alex said, nodding in confirmation as she settled back against Tony.

“So does the suit go back into the seat?” Tony questioned, eliciting giggles from the girls.

********

The girls waved goodbye as Pepper, Tony and Happy got back into the car. Turning into the entry way the girls looked around at the large area. 

Beside them Professor Xavier smiled. “We are glad to have the three of you studying here, if you’ll follow Jean she’ll help you to your rooms. Now if you’ll excuse Me.” he announced before leaving down a hall way.

“Right so if you’ll follow me!” Jean offered before leading them up the stair case and down the hall to the girls living quarters. When they reached their room they opened the door to find there three bunk beds pushed together. The bottom where the other three bunks would have went were gone leaving space for the decorated computer lounge area Tony had brought in for them. Alex dropped her backpack on the plush blue carpet making her way to the  large wooden wardrobe where their weekend cloths were now mixed in with the rest of their clothes they had shipped in upon notice of their move.

“First things first.” Ana announced. Walking over to one of the computers she plugged in an USB that was disguised as a Purple Heart necklace that she wore around her neck. Typing in the necessary coding it wasn’t long before a loading bar popped up in the corner of the screen. As it hit one hundred percent Jarvis’ voice echoed through the room.

“System download complete, good evening ladies.” he greeted

“Good evening Jarvis!” The three chorused.

“Shall we begin the remodel?” he asked

The three got to work on decorating and updating their room with the occasional suggestion from Jarvis to keep them on track. By the time they’d finished the room was just how they wanted it.

A knock on their door, and a call that dinner was ready, had the girls locking down their room. A security system that Tony had developed for them.

The younger students at the academy were scheduled for a field trip to the museum. The girls had been invited to join, which they excitedly agreed to. Their first official school trip was underway and they barely could control their excitement on the bus ride over.

The girls followed the tour guide as he led the group through the different halls. The three were bored to tears as the guide kept going on and on about the different artifacts and their rich history.  Just as they turned a corner Chryssy caught a glimpse of something silver shining from the second floor, nudging her sisters the three snuck their way up the staircase. As they rounded the corner the three looked around confused, there was nothing there. They looked to each otherf before going further down the corridor. They froze when they heard the sound of movement behind them, slowly they turned around to come face to knee with a black clad figure. Looking up they saw his gloved hands though a sliver of silver gleamed through a crevice between his glove and jacket sleeve on his right side. Looking up the rest of the way they took note of the brown shoulder length hair hanging limp around his face. His mouth was covered by a mask, and his eyes were covered by black goggles that seemed to stare blankly down at them. The tall man was a dark contrast to the girls’ long pigtails and bright patterned dresses as they stood assessing each other.

“ _Who are you?”_ He asked hand hovering over a holstered gun.

The girls realized he’d spoken in Russian, and not sure if they should respond back in turn, they nudged Alex forward. She let out a small “Eep!” before shooting a glare at her sisters.

“ _Uhm sorry we were looking for the bathroom, we’ll just get out of your way!”_ she rushed out grabbing her sisters’ hands to side step the man. The man followed them with his eyes as they rounded the corner.

“Phew that was a close one!” Ana sighed in relief.

“You practically threw me at him!” Alex whispered in outrage.

The two had the decency to look sheepish.

As they got closer to the stairwell armed guards came marching up the stairs.

“Freeze!” The one in the lead shouted.

The girls froze in fear, but the guards weapons were still drawn in their direction.

“I don’t want to go on any more field trips!” Ana whispered to her sisters.

Gun shots rang out behind them, the three dropped to the ground covering their heads.  The guards on the stairs dropped to the ground some falling back down the stairs as the shots hit their mark.

“ _Let’s go!”_  The order came from behind them in Russian, the girls looked up to see the masked man holstering his weapon.

 _“We’re not supposed to go with strangers!”_ Ana whispered sheepishly to the man, still in their crouched down position.

The sound of screams and shouts to not move had the man picking up the downed girls, his arm seemed to whir in response. Quickly he made a hasty retreat back down the corridor.

“ _Hey this is kidnapping!!”_ Chryssy shouted in outrage.

“ _Oh now she speaks!”_ Alex shouted from her squished position.

 _“This place will blow soon!”_ the man announced.

 _“And by blow you couldn’t mean…”_ Alex trailed off when the man didn’t finish. “ _Great this is great!”_

When the man looked down confused she huffed.

 _“Don’t look at me!! Get us out of here!”_ She shouted.

The man froze as he continued to stare at the child, a memory tickling his thoughts.

“You’re bossy.” he murmured in a Brooklyn accent before hightailing it out of a back door.

Alex pouted as her sisters giggled.

Just as they made it outside an explosion rocked the building.

The girls watched the building go up in flames from their perched position, as the man continued to run making sharp turns every now and again. He didn’t stop until they were four blocks away.

When he finally released them he turned to leave.

“You speak English?” Ana asked confused.

“I speak many languages.” He confirmed, continuing his stride

“But you’re accent it was from here, America I mean.” She clarified.

That froze him.

“Who are you?” Alex questioned.

“I am the Asset.” He returned.

“That’s not a name...” Ana told him disgruntled.

“The Asset does not need a name.” he seemed to parrot.

“Don’t be silly everyone needs a name!” Chryssy argued.

The man sighed finally turning around. “If I had a name, I do not remember it, they call me the Asset. The soldier they use when necessary.” He explained

“And when you’re not “necessary”?” Alex asked using air quotes around the word as the three moved closer to him.

“They freeze me.” He said matter-of-factly.

The girls stared wide eyed at him. Eventually Ana spoke up.

“Well I still don’t think the Asset is a name! So how about Gregg!” she offered.

The other three looked at her confused.

“Do I look like a Gregg to you, Doll?” he asked the Accent coming out again.

The girls gave him appraising looks, if the soldier wasn’t trained he would have squirmed under their scrutiny.

“Well the only other soldier I know is named James, but we don’t call him that, so you can use it!” Chryssy explained.

The man lifted his a googles to his forehead, confusion showing in his deep blue eyes. Crouching down in front of her he looked her in the eyes.

“What did you call me?” he asked, his brow furrowed like Babulya’s when she did her crossword puzzle in the morning.

“Uh James? It really is a common name, in fact around 4,064,550 males have the name, and that’s only in the U.S. In Russia James, or Yasha is…” Chryssy continued to babble off statistics a nervous habit she had recently picked up. The man however was no longer listening, a faraway look glazed over his eyes as distant memories unsuccessfully tried to breech the surface.

Eventually Alex clamped a hand over the mouth of her still babbling sister to stop her, the child sagging in relief.

“Do you like it?” Ana asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“What?” he asked confused.

“The name James? Do you feel like a James?” she coaxed.

He stared down at her not sure what to say.

“Well if you come up with something better we’ll change it. Until then James it is!” Alex confirmed.

The man shrugged before standing to leave. As he began walking the girls trailed behind him like lost ducklings. Glancing behind him cautiously he quickly turned a corner, the girls following his lead.

“Where are you going?” He asked finally.

“We don’t know! You haven’t told us!” Ana told him, in innocent exasperation.

 _“You cannot come with me!”_ he said reverting back to Russian.

 _“Well we don’t know where we are!”_ Alex shrieked.

“Fine, I will take you back!” He returned.

The girls only shrugged in response before following him down different paths, where no one seemed to notice the black clad figure and three young girls, strolling down the street.

After two minutes of silence Ana spoke up.

“So, what were you doing back at the Museum?” She questioned

“Completing my mission.” He responded

“Which was?” Ana asked

“Infiltration, retrieval, and detonation” he said vaguely

“Hmm… So you blew up the museum….cool!” Chryssy said, speeding up to walk beside him.

He glanced down at her curiously before continuing his stride, intrigued that the small children were able to keep up with his pace.

“Why do you wear that mask?” Chryssy asked.

“To hide my face.” he told her.

“Can I try it on?” Ana questioned.

“No.” He said before turning down another street.

“Meanie.” She grumbled

As they completed the turn they realized they were back in front of the museum he paused in the shadows the girls stopping beside him.

“Well?” he asked urging them forward.

“Will we see you again?” Chryssy asked, the three sending pouts up to him.

“You want to see me again?” The soldier asked confused, he was the Asset, and they were treating him like an actual person, someone to be missed, this was new.

“Of course, you’re our first friend. Well besides Babulya and the cats.” Ana explained though his confusion only seemed to grow.

“Friend? I am not the good guy Malyshka.” He explained

“Maybe, but you saved us, so you seem okay to me!” Alex clarified

He shook his head, before answering Chryssy’s question. “No I must go, once I go back I will not remember the three of you.”

“Hey!” Chryssy whined. “You’re not allowed to forget your friends!”

 _“They do not give me a choice Malyshka”_ He told her sadly

The three looked at him disgruntled before they passed a look between each other. Ana motioned for him to come closer, hesitantly he crouched down in front of the three.

“Now hold out your hand.” Alex prompted.

As he did the three cupped there small hands over top of his.

“Don’t freak out!” Chryssy said with a smirk.

“Why would I…” James trailed off as their eyes began to glow blue. His hand began to grow warm through the glove before it grew cold, a slight breeze seemed to flow through his fingers.

When they drew back their hands a small orb, a little bigger than a marble, was situated in his palm. He looked up at them confused. Alex rolled her eyes before picking it up and holding it closer to his face. As he stared into it, colors inside the orb began to swirl, first a deep blue.

“Water.” Alex said, pointing to herself.

Then it swirled to a rich green,

“Earth.” Ana confirmed placing a hand over her chest.

Then it swirled a cloud gray.

“And Air.” Chryssy said with a smile.

Last all the colors swirled together in harmony before the cycle began again.

“If you have to forget us, then keep that. Someone would have had to give to you!” Ana announced.

“And that someone is us!” Alex said placing the orb back into his palm.

Clenching it into his fist he stood. “You three should go, before your people start to worry.” he said voice unusually gruff.

The girls giggled before latching onto his legs in a hug. He stiffened but let it happen until they released him.

“See you around James!” They chorused before running off.

He watched them leave before disappearing into the shadows, the orb held firmly in his hand.

*******

The lone soldier returned back to the compound where he’d been awakened. As his handlers directed him to The Chair, he clenched the swirling orb tighter in his fist, a warm feeling bubbled in his chest as he took the seat.

The blonde leader approached him

“Asset Mission Report” He ordered.

James. That was what the girls had named him. He didn’t tell them that the name brought a slight tingle to his mind. Out loud he responded without missing a beat.

“The artifact was retrieved, all evidence that I was there has been destroyed.” A lie. He let three pieces of proof walk away.

“What took you so long to get back?” The man questioned in an eerie calm.

“I thought I had a tail. I handled it.” Not a lie. He was followed, and he did handle it.

“Very good then.” The blonde man turned to leave, stopping he turned to one of the men wearing a lab coat. “Wipe him, then freeze him.” He ordered before taking his leave.

The soldier stiffened but allowed them to push him back into the chair. As he held on to the orb memories of his mission played through his mind ending with the hug the three girls gave him. Three children that should have been afraid of him, that called him a friend. He really didn’t want to forget them.

The harness gripped his arms tight, he held the orb tighter. The machine neared his head sparks of electricity coming from its prongs.

 ** _“Let’s get out of here!”_** A voice played through his head. But before the image of a skinny boy jogging beside him could fully form, the pain started. He could hear a man screaming. He wanted him to stop, it wasn’t helping ease the pain.

The scientist continued to work the machine hitting key areas of the soldier’s hippocampus with jolts of electricity, ignoring the soldier’s screams all the while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg that Bucky scene nearly killed me... I made myself sad.... oh dear...  
> Malyshka- little girl. (most translations come from google.. if its wrong feel free to correct me!)


	20. Lies and spies oh my!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah.. that took a long time.. sorry.... but yay!!! enjoy

Tony woke to sunlight spilling in through the floor length windows of his bedroom, the white interior doing nothing to mute the intrusion. He started with a stretch that turned into a satisfying yawn.  
“Good morning Sir it’s currently nine am, the temperature is seventy five degrees.” The AI greeted.  
Tony sat looking around in a daze. “Where are the girls?” he asked realizing he’d woken on his own instead of the three poking and sitting on him.  
“You sent the girls to Professor Xavier’s School to continue their studies.” Jarvis reminded him dryly.  
Tony sat back with a huff. “Why?” he questioned  
“Apparently he can teach them things that I cannot.” Jarvis answered.  
“Aw J, you know that’s not true.” Tony placated the clearly disgruntled A.I,  
“Then your question still remains, why indeed?” Jarvis returned before going silent.  
Tony sighed before climbing out of bed to get ready for the day.  
As Tony made his way down the hall he could hear the girls’ voices coming from their room, confused he peeked in to see the four cougars situated in front of the TV. The girl’s video chatting with them from their room at Xavier’s. Zeus began whining at something Chryssy said.  
“They don’t allow pets here!” Chryssy argued.  
Tony pushed the door open the rest of the way, causing the cougars to look over from the screen.  
“Whose there?” Ana called noticing there distraction.  
“Minion!” Tony greeted.  
“Daddy!” Three voices cheered.  
Tony came in and sat on the edge of the bed as the girls began telling him about their stay at the school.  
“Alright girls I need to go okay?” he announced before the girls could go into another story.  
The three pouted cutely.  
“Are we still coming home for the Stark Expo?” Chryssy asked hopefully.  
“Of course!” he agreed before saying his good byes.

 

The three held hands as they walked down the school corridors, their reputation was easily known as always being together, earning themselves the nickname Trinity. Most of, if not all, the students believed that there was only one of them and that duplication was their mutation. Not that they helped occasionally disappearing and reappearing beside each other at random times.  
Ana let out a small yawn, the three were still adapting their sleep schedule from the move, try as they might. Luckily today they’d be heading home for the Stark expo. Happy would be arriving from the airport shortly to pick them up.  
Back in their room the three grabbed their back packs just as Jarvis announced Happy was down stairs.  
“Race you!” Ana shouted before darting out of the room.  
The two were gaining on her heel, when they ran into a wall that seemed to be made out of fluff.  
“Oof!” they huffed.  
Looking up they saw that the large figure was completely covered in blue fur.  
“Sorry Professor McCoy!” they chorused.  
‘What’s the hurry?” He asked with a chuckle.  
“Going home for the weekend!!” Chryssy responded excitedly.  
“Our uncle is downstairs, got to go Professor see you later!” Alex called as the three continued to race down the stairs.  
“Have fun! And no running in the halls!” he called after them.  
Happy was just stepping through the threshold when he was knocked back by the three girls.  
“Whoa!! Where’s the fire?” he laughed out, holding on to the door frame for balance.  
“I missed you so much!” Alex screeched.  
“Really? Have you gotten taller I haven’t seen you in what? Two years?” He asked thoughtfully.  
“It’s only been one!” Chryssy giggled out.  
“One year is still a long time” Happy returned.  
“One month Uncle happy!” Ana corrected.  
“One month? Are you sure it feels like it’s been years!!!” he laughed out, before sitting them down.  
Arriving at stark mansion without a minute to spare, Ana immediately dove for the ground, the blades of grass happily winding around her in a gentle embrace.  
“Hello?” Alex called as her and Chryssy stepped through the door. There was silence, then the sound of thumping. Chryssy winced when the sound of glass shattering echoed through the house. The four large cats came tumbling past the stairwell sliding past the entry before righting themselves to come bounding down the stairs. Alex let out an eep as Poseidon knocked her to the ground and began to aggressively nuzzle her face, she could hear her sister giggling madly beside her as she received the same treatment.  
“I finally got the grass to let me go, though I did have to promis- OOF” Ana cut off as Hades tackled her. “Not again!” She giggled out.  
Chryssy managed to get up with Zeus trailing close behind her.  
“Where is everyone?” She asked  
“Ms. Potts and Sir are currently at a rehearsal for tomorrows Expo opening, Madam Rogov is currently in her room.” Jarvis answered without missing a beat.  
The three turned to Happy.  
“What? They only told me to bring you home.” He answered their unspoken question. “Look how about you go settle into your room and I’ll start on making dinner.”  
“And by making, you mean ordering?” Alex added  
“And by ordering, you mean Pizza?” Ana continued.  
“Now wait just a minute!” Happy interjected,  
“And by Pizza you mea-” Chryssy began only to be cut off.  
“Gravina’s I know! It’s like talking to three Tony’s!” Happy mumbled as he pulled out his phone.  
The girls only giggled as they ran up the stairs. Only to be intercepted by the graying redhead they held dear.  
“Babulya!!!” The three shrieked tackling her into a hug.  
“My beautiful Girls have returned!” Oksana grunted out as she picked up the three into a hug.  
“We just saw you last week!” Chryssy giggled out, but not releasing the woman from the hug.  
Oksana would stay with the girls at Stark Manor to practice once or twice a week out of the month accompanied by the cougars most of the time.  
“One week? It feels like four!” Oksana told them with a chuckle, giving them one last squeeze before she released them.  
“Maybe we can go to the beach this weekend?” Alex asked hopefully.  
“We shall see.” Oksana answered, before walking down the hall.  
The three shrugged before going to their room.

Happy and Oksana were listening to the girls’ stories when they heard the door open.  
“Something smells amazing!” Pepper announced as she rounded the corner. The girls froze before pushing away from the table. The three raced out of the kitchen and into the doorway.  
“Mom!!” the triplets screamed before running to her.  
She immediately dropped to her knees to better hug the three.  
“My angels!! I’ve missed you so much” Pepper cried, kissing each of them on the forehead before standing up.  
The girls heard the front door open and shut again, Tony’s voice echoing down the foray.  
“Do I smell Gravina’s? Pepper have you finally mastered reading my mind quick tell me what I’m thinking!” He called pausing in his step.  
“How about I predict the future. You’re about to get tackled.” She offered casually, moving to get plates on the table.  
“Wait, wha- oof!?” Tony’s question was cutoff as the girls rammed into him before clinging on.  
“Papa Bear!” The three shrieked.  
Tony picked the three up squeezing them tight.  
“Oh I’ve missed this! Where have you been all my life!” he questioned, the girls giggling as they returned the hug.  
“Pizza’s getting cold!” Happy called out.  
“Right, recap later?” Tony asked  
In response the girls dropped out of his hold before racing back to the kitchen.  
“Right.” Tony mumbled following behind them.  
Long after the pizza had been eaten, the girls laid curled up between pepper and Tony retelling everything they’d done at Xavier’s when Chryssy let out a yawn.  
“Alright ladies, we’ve got an early day tomorrow, pjs and bed!” Pepper announced  
With a shrug they hopped off the couch before running upstairs hastily followed by the cougars. 

Happy brought the girls to the Expo a few hours behind Tony, VIP lanyards hanging for their necks under the guise of being the lucky winners of an up close and personal tour of The Stark Expo.  
When they walked into the theater, they could see the Ironette’s rehearsing on stage for Iron Man’s big entrance.  
Ana tugged slightly on Happy’s pant leg, getting him to look down. She motioned for him to come closer, eliciting laughter from the women on stage. Happy only sighed before crouching down in front of her.  
“What can I do for you gadget?” he questioned.  
Standing on her tippy toes to reach his ear, she whispered “I have to go potty.”  
“Now? I told you to go before we came in here.” He whispered back.  
“I didn’t have to go then!” Ana returned.  
Chryssy and Alex giggled at their sister before going to take seats in front of the stage.  
Happy sighed before standing, he looked around for Pepper. Finding her talking to one of the stage hands he signaled for her to watch the girls before leaving with Ana.  
Finding the family bathroom he ushered Ana in only to be pushed out.  
“I can do it Uncle Happy!” Ana reprimanded, closing the door behind her.  
Happy chuckled, in response.  
Ana trudged out happily, stopping beside him she held her hand out.  
“Did you wash them?” Happy asked screwing up his face in mock disgust.  
“Don’t be silly, of course I did!” Ana giggled out, before grabbing his hand.  
“Eww they’re still wet!” Happy shrieked, trying to snatch his hand away only for Ana to hold on tighter.  
“Sorry there was no paper towel!” she explained.  
Giving in happy began walking back to the others, as they passed the gift shop Ana tugged him towards it.  
“What? I thought you wanted to see the rehearsal?” Happy questioned  
“I do! This will only take a second!” Ana replied.  
Happy grudgingly allowed the toddler to drag him into the store.  
“This please!” Ana told him pointing to a hanger rack.  
Happy let his head drop. “And I’m guessing you want to wear it now?” he questioned  
Ana looked up hopefully.  
Happy chuckled before bringing it to the counter.

Pepper sat beside Alex and Chryssy who were happily throwing popcorn at each other to see who could catch it in their mouths. She would have stopped them if it weren’t for the fact neither had missed a piece since they’d began.  
“I wonder what’s taking them so….” Pepper trailed off as the two came through the theater doors. “oh god, Tony’s going to love this.” she said with a laugh, causing Alex to miss the piece of popcorn Chryssy threw at her as they turned to see what she meant. The two promptly fell into a fit of giggles as Ana came running over. She came to a stop in front of her sisters as she hit a button on the helmet she was wearing, before striking a pose.  
“I am Iron Man!” proclaimed a voice that sounded very much like Tony’s.  
Ana lifted the faceplate smiling happily at her sisters.  
“What are you wearing?” Chryssy managed to ask through her giggles.  
“What? I saw it in the gift shop!” Ana explained  
“I didn’t know they made Iron man costumes!” Happy chuckled out.  
“Tony had them commissioned as soon as he found out there was a market for them.” Pepper explained watching as Ana began kicking and twirling around her sisters. “CAREFUL!” she reminded  
Ana struck another pose as her sisters continued to giggle “You’re just jealous!”  
“What are yo-“ Alex began only to be cut off.  
“Don’t be!” she said emphasizing her words with a glowing hand to Alex’s face. “I got you both your own!”  
Alex and Chryssy turned to look at Happy who held up the bag with a shrug.  
The two looked back at each other before making grabby hands at the merchandise.  
After getting the costumes on the three began the epic battle of The Iron man’s conveniently around Happy’s ankles, making the man immediately regret his decision to listen to Ana. After the Tenth ankle kick he decided it was time to take the girls to Tony for their “meet and greet”.  
Tony sat in the Stark lounge with one Ironnette on each edge of his chair, and a glass of scotch in hand. He broke off mid sentence when Jarvis’ voice spoke through the speaker.  
“Sir your four thirty is here.”  
“Oh right, thanks! Hey ladies thanks for the company, but I’ve got people to engage with.” He announced by way of a dismissal. The two pouted before exiting the room.  
“Well what are you waiting for send them in!” Tony ordered. Swapping his drink for his chlorophyll concoction just as the doors busted open with a bang. Tony looked up startled as three mini Iron Mans struck Charlie’s Angels’ poses in front of him.  
“What th-“he cut off as the three pressed a button in sync on their helmets before returning to their pose.  
“I Am Iron Man” A voice, that sounded like his, Announced.  
Tony began to shake with barely controlled laughter, the girls soon lost composure and joined him.  
“Please tell me you got that J?” Tony questioned.  
“I have saved the video to your hard drive at home.” Jarvis confirmed.  
“I knew commissioning those suits was a good idea.” Tony claimed.  
The girls took off their helmets, shaking their pigtails dramatically like they’d seen in the movies.  
Tony chuckled. “That to J?”  
“Indeed sir.” Jarvis confirmed.  
“Great! So any last words of encouragement before the show starts?” Tony asked  
“What’s for dinner?” Ana questioned.  
“Ha ha, Italian” Tony answered.  
The girls nodded there affirmation.  
“I saw the girls rehearsing, but not you. Where do you come in?” Chryssy questioned.  
“From above” Tony answered. At the girls confused look he added “You’ll see! So backstage or front row?”  
“Well as the winners of the contest we’ll be sitting in the front row of course!” Ana giggled.  
“Of course” Tony said nodding in agreement. “And as winners you also get these autographed photos of Iron man!” Tony announced handing them each a signed photo of a back to back picture of him and the suit with explosions behind him.  
“I wonder how much this will go for on eBay.” Chryssy questioned aloud.  
“Hey!” Tony shouted indignantly.  
“One hundred and Twenty five dollars.” Jarvis provided  
“That’s it?” Tony questioned, slightly miffed.  
“Well if you’d stop handing them out everywhere you go for free, they’d be worth more sir.” Jarvis returned, eliciting giggles from the girls.  
“I said words of encouragement, so if you four are done ganging up on me I have a show to do.” Tony replied.  
The girls immediately ran to hug him. He crouched down so each of them could press a kiss to his cheek.  
“Break some legs!” Chryssy offered  
“Steal some luck!” Ana told him  
“Kill ’em dead!” Alex said with a giggle.  
“Though none of those are the proper phrase, thank you! Now go enjoy the show!” Tony replied, walking them to the door.  
Before he could shut the door Happy pressed a quick kiss to his cheek  
“Balls crossed!” he whispered into Tony’s ear. Tony went from disgusted to hysterical in seconds as Happy slammed the door the rest of the way shut. When Pepper came to get him he was still choking back laughter in front of the door.  
“I don’t even want to know!” she announced, shaking her head in exasperation.  
As night fell the girls sat in their seats as Tony jumped out of a plane only to zoom through fireworks, as his entrance to the Expo.  
The three winced when they heard what sounded like the suit getting hit by a stray firework. They watched as the audience stood screaming as Iron Man landed on stage, more fireworks illuminating the Ironnettes as they began to dance around the disassembling suit. After Tony’s speech the girls watched as their grandfather’s old movie reel played on the screen.  
Ana tapped Pepper on the shoulder pointing to the exit. When she nodded the four made their way out of the theater before the mass of crowd began exploring the Expo. Just as they made their way out Pepper’s phone began to ring.  
“I told you flying while the fireworks were shooting wasn’t a smart idea!” Pepper answered in lieu of a greeting.  
“It was a brilliant idea thank you very much. I’m being court marshalled.” Tony added with a sigh.  
“What could they want this time? I’ll bring the girls around back so you can say goodbye.” She said before hanging up.  
Standing out back when the Audi pulled around the corner the girls began to jump excitedly as tony stepped out of the convertible.  
“Alright ladies what did you think?” Tony asked  
“It was great!” Ana replied “Did you mean to fly into that firework papa?”  
Pepper hid a laugh behind cough, Tony sent her a glare.  
“Shush you!” he returned.  
“Okay you three it’s a school night, Happy will take you back to Xavier’s, and your father has a long drive ahead of him.” Pepper explained  
The girls pouted before hugging Tony.  
“You be good for Pepper Okay!” Chryssy told him.  
Tony chuckled “Only if you’re good for Happy!” he replied.  
The four immediately began giggling, Happy groaning in the background.  
Tony pressed another kiss to each of their foreheads before moving to open the passenger door for Pepper.  
The girls and Happy waved goodbye before going to walk to their car.  
“If you are good, I’ll stop at the Italian restaurant.” He offered.  
“Oh dear, Uncle Harold.” Alex said with an exaggerated sigh, getting giggles from her sisters.  
“It was worth a shot.” Happy mumbled.  
******************  
The next morning the girls woke up back at Xavier’s. After convincing there uncle to stop at a candy store the three got back to the school and promptly got hopped up on sugar until they dropped.  
In PJ’s and sporting bed heads the three made their way to the kitchen for breakfast before class.  
“Wait I forgot something!” Alex shrieked before vanishing.  
Chryssy sighed before disappearing after her.  
Ana shrugged before continuing her trek to the kitchen. When she came in peter was standing in the fridge,  
“Colossus!” she yelled excited before running and jumping full speed  
He caught her easily by the foot smiling at the upside down toddler!  
“Good morning! Cereal?” he asked as he sat her down on a stool across from his own.  
She nodded in response.  
As he turned around there was a rustling noise like leaves in the wind. Looking over his shoulder he watched as two girls identical to Ana appeared.  
“Does that mean you need two more bowls?” he questioned confused.  
“Yes please.” The three chorused.  
“Where does it go when they disappear?” he questioned reaching for the three bowls  
The three looked up at him confused.  
“Never mind.”  
They only shrugged in response as Logan walked into the room.  
“Good Morning!” the girls chorused happily.  
Logan only grunted in response mussing up his hair as he turned the television on.  
Immediately Senator Stern’s voice filled the room, banging his gavel to gain control of the rambunctious court room.  
“Mr. stark, could we pick up-” The Senator’s voice cut off as Logan changed the channel.  
“Hey!” Ana and Alex shrieked.  
‘Wait go back!” Chryssy yelled.  
Both men turned to look at them  
“What? You want to watch a court show?” Logan questioned  
“Iron Man was there!” Alex said with a pointed look.  
Logan looked at her confused before remembering who their dad was.  
“Yeah, whatever.” he replied switching the channel back before grabbing a beer out of the fridge.  
“Isn’t it a bit early for that?” Peter questioned.  
Logan responded by popping the lid off, before plopping down beside Alex, mussing up her hair in the process.  
She batted his hand away before resuming eating her cereal eyes focused on the TV, her sisters doing the same.  
“Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?” Stern questioned  
“I do not.” Tony responded.  
“You do not?” Stern asked disgruntled.  
Logan chuckled.  
“Well it depends on how you define the word “weapon.” Tony added  
“The Iron Man Weapon!” Stern said with a barely concealed sigh.  
“My device does not fit that description” he replied.  
“Well... How would you describe it? Stern asked.  
“As what it is, Senator!” Tony snarked.  
“As?” he prompted  
“Hmm well, it’s a high-tech prosthesis.” Tony replied  
“Well he’s not wrong” Ana giggled out.  
“That’s actually the most apt description.” Tony added.  
“It’s a weapon Mr. Stark!” Stern argued.  
“Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citiz-“Tony began only to be cut off  
“My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States.” Stern argued.  
“Well you can forget it.” Tony replied. “I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude... or prostitution… depending on which state you’re in. You can’t have it.” he added with a shrug.  
“Look I’m no expert” Stern began  
“In prostitution?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. “Of course not you’re a Senator! Come on!” he added getting laughs from the rest of the court room. As the gavel banged Tony turned in his seat. Pepper could be seen in the stands motioning for him to turn back around. They seemed to have a small argument before he finally agreed.  
“You sure you’re allowed to be watching this?” Peter questioned Ana.  
She only shrugged before looking back to the screen.  
After regaining control of the room the senator spoke. “We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I’d now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor.”  
“What a dweeb...” Ana stage whispered the same time Tony said, “Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber; and I’m wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance.  
Justin continued seemingly unperturbed. “Absolutely. I’m no expert, I defer to you Anthony. You’re the wonder boy. Senator if I may. I may not be an expert, but you know who was? He questioned.  
Tony shrugged in response.  
“You’re Dad. Howard stark”  
“Uh oh.” The girl’s groaned.  
“I hate that guy...” Alex announced  
Peter looked over at her confused  
“Oh come on! He’s not even on the same level as my… as Tony Stark!” Alex returned ignoring her slip up.  
“Yeah the only reason Hammer even has that Job is because Tony didn’t want it.” Ana added  
“How do you know this again?” Peter questioned  
“Doesn’t everybody?” Chryssy asked unsure.  
“Not everyone has the same weird Iron Man Obsession as you!” Logan joked.  
The three only glared at him before turning back to the TV.  
“The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the Chamber.” Stern announced  
“What?” The girls shrieked the same time their dad did. There spoons clanging against their bowls as they dropped them in disbelief.  
Tony stood from his chair shaking the man’s hand, the two seemed to have a short discussion before sitting down.  
As the two sat down the screen went black.  
“Hey!!” They whined.  
“Time to train.” Logan announced before leaving the room, the three sullenly trailing behind him.  
Later in the evening the three plopped onto their beds exhausted from Logan’s “training”, the man had no sympathy for children apparently. As soon as their heads hit the pillows, the three were out cold.  
Chryssy began to toss and turn in her sleep, her dream blurring out of focus before coming back at a new angle. She seemed to be in their room in Malibu curled up on the bed with Hades and Poseidon.  
"Where’s Zeus?” she wondered.  
Chryssy looked on as she began looking around the room, her vision was unusually clear for a dream. Suddenly she began to growl as she searched the room. Seemingly placated, she stretched before moving to get comfortable, which is when she finally got a glance at her hands, or paws in this case... she shrieked and the body jumped up on guard.  
"What is going on?" she wondered in a panic.  
"CHRYSSY?" A boy’s voice questioned.  
"This is new, I’ve never talked to anyone in a dream before." she thought to herself.  
"How'd you get in my head?" The boy asked again.  
"You know, you sound just like Zeus!" Chryssy told him.  
"That's because I am Zeus." The boy responded.  
"Zeus? How'd you get in my dream?” she questioned.  
"I'd like to know how you got in my head!" Zeus responded, with another bone cracking stretch.  
Resigned to not sleeping the cougar got up to get to his bowl in the kitchen.  
"Aren't you supposed to be at school or something?” He asked only slightly annoyed.  
"I am at school. Or I was. Before I went to sleep. Weird I can feel you moving and see what you see. This is a weird dream." She announced in a daze.  
She could feel Zeus rolling his eyes.  
"Whatever." He sighed resigned to whatever was currently happening to them.  
Hearing music blaring downstairs, Chryssy watched as Zeus stalked down towards Tony’s lab. He looked around the room until he found Athena laying by Tony’s feet. She looked over as he approached before resuming her nap. Stepping over her he nudged Tony’s leg, the man absently patted his head while he continued his work. Zeus continued to tread around the room as Chryssy looked on.  
“Check palladium levels” Tony ordered, catching Chryssy’s attention.  
“Blood toxicity twenty four percent.” Jarvis announced. “It appears that continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition.”  
“Zeus wait go back!” Chryssy whined.  
Zeus paused in his movements to go back upstairs before turning around.  
“Another core has been depleted.” Jarvis noted  
“God they’re running out quick.” Tony sighed out, massaging the bridge of his nose.  
“I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core. You are running out of both time and options.” Jarvis explained. After a pause he added “Miss Potts is approaching. I recommend that you inform he-”  
“Mute!” Tony ordered just as Pepper stepped through the door.  
“Is this a Joke!” she questioned.  
“Zeus where are you going?” Chryssy questioned as Tony and Pepper began arguing over a painting”  
“What? You interrupted my nap! I’m tired!” Zeus defended.  
“Come on! We have to see what elements he’s been testing or something! Anything that can help.” She reasoned.  
Zeus let out a huff of annoyance before turning towards the computer.  
“What are you doing?” Athena questioned, one eye peaking up at him.  
“None of your business.” He mumbled before climbing into Tony’s vacated chair.  
“Well great now I’m curious.” She huffed trying to squeeze into the chair beside him.  
“Hey watch it!” Zeus whined.  
“Focus!” Chryssy ordered.  
“I’m trying to!” Zeus replied.  
“Who are you talking to?” Athena asked perplexed.  
“Chryssy!” he answered before turning to the screen where charts were consistently moving up and down, some blinking out with red failure signs, and some still pending.  
“Chryssy? Where?” Athena questioned, looking around excited.  
“In my head.” He answered casually.  
“Fine.” She murmured. “You don’t have to tell me.” Athena announced before hopping down from the chair causing it to spin slightly.  
“Hey easy!” he cried trying to scoot the chair back to its original position. Sighing he went back to looking at the screen.  
“Is any of this making sense to you? Because I have no clue what I’m looking at.” Zeus finally said.  
“Yeah I got it. He’s been taking the chlorophyll to help slow the effects but sheesh eighty ounces is harsh. Maybe we can finally look into something to reverse the effects, at least temporarily.” She explained.  
“You do it!” Tony announced.  
Zeus looked up at the exclamation.  
“I do what?” Pepper questioned.  
“Excellent idea. I just figured this out. You run the company!” Tony told her excitedly.  
“What?!” Chryssy shouted, startling Zeus out of the chair. “Oops sorry!” she apologized.  
Tony and Pepper faltered, looking over at the cougar who was currently half on the floor half on the chair. Shaking her head Pepper forged on.  
“Yeah, I’m trying to run the company!” she exclaimed  
“No! Pepper! I need you to run the company! Stop trying and do it!” Tony emphasized.  
The three looked at him confused.  
Pepper recovered first sending the two into a battle of one trying to be heard over the other.  
Zeus watched back in forth as their voices continued to get louder and louder.  
“I’m trying to make you CEO!” Tony finally shouted. “Why won’t you let me?” he added at normal level when she stopped talking.  
Chryssy startled awake to her sisters shaking her.  
“Wake up already!” Ana shrieked, punctuating each word with another shake.  
Chryssy jerked up bumping heads with Alex in the process, the two let out pained groans in unison.  
“Oh good you’re up!” Ana said, bouncing excitedly off of the bed.  
Chryssy groaned again as she laid back. “I just had the weirdest dream!”  
“What about?” Alex asked from beside her.  
“I was in Zeus’ head, Papa was dying, well faster than he already was, and he made Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries.”  
“Well besides the first part the last two are completely plausible.” Jarvis announced.  
“What?” the three shrieked.  
“Your father has appointed Miss Potts as CEO.” Jarvis confirmed.  
“And the other part?” Chryssy asked looking pale.  
“Sir has been depleting the palladium cores at a faster rate.” Jarvis told them  
Ana sat down with a huff. “What is happening?” She yelled.  
“Well I was thinking maybe we could start looking for something to temporarily reverse the affects, until he can find something more permanent.” Chryssy announced from her position.  
“Did you have this thought while in Zeus’ head?” Alex questioned dubiously.  
“Actually yes, I heard Papa and Jarvis talking last night.” She said matter-of-factually.  
“Jarvis?” Ana questioned.  
“While technically it was earlier in the evening, Sir and I were discussing his current predicament.” Jarvis confirmed.  
“But how did you?” Ana questioned.  
“I don’t know, one second I was asleep in bed, the next I’m in Zeus’ head, I thought I was still dreaming.” Chryssy said, oddly tired for having been asleep through the night.  
“Maybe we should talk to the professor?” Alex offered.  
The two looked at her before racing out of the room. “Race you there!” they called out of the room.  
“Dang it!” she cried before jumping up, just as she got to the door she paused. “No tattling!” She yelled before running from the room.  
“Sibling Secrecy privacy protocols activated” Jarvis confirmed.

“Professor!” The three shouted as they busted through the doors of his office.  
Not startled in the least, Xavier invited them to sit down.  
“To what do I owe the pleasure this morning, girls?” he questioned.  
“I had this weird dream last night that might not have been a dream.” Chryssy told him before opening up her mind the way the professor had taught them to.  
A brief unobtrusive peruse had him humming in thought. "Well it seems your mutation is still developing, being the nature manipulators that you are, I was unsure of what all you three would be capable of. However animal scrying seems to be within your capabilities!” Xavier told them with a chuckle.  
“Animal whatting?” Alex questioned.  
“Animal scrying, would be seeing through animal senses.” He explained  
“Oh!” the three remarked.  
“Yeah, I think that’s what happened, though I couldn’t move or anything I just saw everything he was doing from his point of view. I only got out when they woke me up this morning.” Chryssy added.  
An idea suddenly formed in Ana’s head. “Do you think Alex and me could do that too?” she questioned, a gleam that the professor didn’t miss, but also didn’t mention, forming in her eyes.  
“With the way your mutation is forming there’s no way to really know, however there’s a good chance you could.” He answered.  
“Fair enough! Thanks professor!” Ana announced hopping down from her chair.  
Chryssy and Alex repeated her process before exiting his office leaving him amused in their wake.  
Glad that it was a weekend at the school the three sat in a circle on Chryssy’s bed as they tried to enter the minds of their companions.  
“Maybe if we focus really hard?” Ana offered.  
“I don’t know, I just went to sleep and woke up that way. I don’t think I was focusing, but I did want to see him last night.” Chryssy announced.  
“Okay so we fall asleep wanting to see them?” Alex offered.  
The three nodded before laying down beside each other. Ten minutes later Ana popped an eye open.  
“I’m not tired.” She finally told them.  
The two sighed before sitting back up.  
“Okay maybe we should tire ourselves out first?” Chryssy thought aloud.  
When Logan came into check on them the three were running circles around each other in the middle of the room. He shook his head in exasperation before closing the door and continuing down the hall.  
An hour later the three plopped to the floor out of breath.  
“Okay, a nap sounds really good right now.” Ana told them from her sprawled out position.  
“Just remember to focus on the boys okay?” Alex reminded.  
“Right!” they agreed before closing their eyes.

The cougars were watching as Tony and Happy threw punches at each other on a square platform, not sure what was going on but excited none the less. Babulya was out for the weekend and Tony didn’t mind the company.  
Athena rolled her eyes from her perch as her brothers cheered excitedly when Tony threw a series of hits at Happy.  
When the three suddenly went silent she looked down worriedly. Watching as they lay collapsed in front of the ring.  
“Hey are you guys okay? Hades? Poseidon? Zeus?” she questioned prodding each in the side with her paw.  
“Oh man! What was that, my ears are ringing!” Hades proclaimed.  
“I knew I shouldn’t have stolen that burrito last night.” Poseidon added.  
“Did it work?” Ana questioned.  
“Did what work?” Hades questioned confused.  
“Hades?!” Ana shrieked excitedly  
“Ana? What did you do? You said you wouldn’t experiment on me anymore after the last time?” he asked, still getting his bearings.  
“I didn’t! Technically? Hey open your eyes and look around!” she told him.  
“Why are you in my head?” he questioned but doing as she’d asked.  
“We’re spying!” Ana told him excitedly.  
“What do you mean we’re?” he asked looking at Poseidon who was currently running in circles and then at Zeus who seemed to be having a disagreement with himself, and didn’t seem to be winning.  
“The notary’s here! Can you please come sign the paperwork?” Pepper announced as she entered the room followed by a shorter woman with red curly hair.  
Immediately Ana recognized her as the woman from Uncle Nick’s job.  
“Hey that’s the Black Widow! What’s she doing here?” she questioned.  
The woman gave pause when she saw the four cougars looking at her with an odd intuition.  
“Oh don’t mind them! They’re harmless!” Pepper told her as she patted Athena on the head.  
The woman looked at her dubiously before following her to the ring.  
Alex was upset, and Poseidon didn’t know what to do.  
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a panic.  
“I can’t believe he lied to us!” she wanted to scream.  
“Who lied to you!?” he asked around her outrage.  
“Uncle Nick he promised he wouldn’t send any of his agents to spy on Papa!” She explained, watching as Tony motioned for the woman to join her and Happy in the ring.  
Turning to Happy, Tony asked “Can you give her a lesson?” as he stepped out to sit beside Pepper.  
“Uh oh...” the three girls said unwittingly at the same time.  
“What?” Zeus questioned watching as Happy asked the woman if she’d boxed before.  
“Poor Uncle happy!” Chryssy sighed out, wanting to close her eyes but not sure how to.  
Poseidon ignored Pepper and Tony arguing in the background, in favor of seeing where this was going.  
Alex was fuming, she couldn't grasp that her uncle had broken his promise.  
Poseidon began to whine as he began to feel pressure build up.  
"Alex? What's happening?" he questioned  
The girl continued to fume, though she too could feel the pressure building but couldn't figure out how to stop it.  
"ALEXANDRIA!" Poseidon growled in a panic trying to get her attention.  
"What?" She shrieked properly startled.  
"Shit!" Tony exclaimed as his glass tipped over into his lap, moving his tablet out of the way just as the water sloshed over.  
“We'll that's what you get for ogling her.” Pepper chuckled out.  
“I was googling her!” He defended.  
The woman, Natalie Rushman she’d told Tony, turned her head to see the commotion behind her. A mischievous look took over Happy’s face as he spoke and the girls could do nothing but watch.  
“Rule number one, never take your eye off your opponent.” He said reaching to tap his glove against her head.  
“Here it comes.” Ana giggled out.  
The woman the girls knew to be The Black Widow whipped her head around simultaneously grabbing Happy’s outstretched wrist. Yanking him forward she used his imbalance to wrap her leg around his neck before twisting her body downward, rolling forward she sent him tumbling into a somersault with a loud bang. The man double tapped on her thigh still wrapped around his neck for release.  
Peppers cry of surprise and Tony’s squeal of delight echoed in the background. Athena sat stunned while the boys rolled on the floor in laughter.  
Natalie hopped up quickly straightening her clothes, before climbing out of the ring. That was the last things the girls saw before they woke up laughing in bed, losing their concentration on the link.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully everything made sense... took me a while to finally get the words out of my head!! but thanks for reading!!!   
> P.S sorry the spacing came out weird.... weirder?


	21. Mayhem in Monaco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy a new chapter on the house!!

“Jarvis make the call.” Ana ordered, from her position on the bed.

“Very well.” Jarvis responded.

A minute later their speaker phone began to ring.

“Who is this?” a deep voice demanded.

“Hello Uncle Nicholas.” Chryssy greeted tersely.

Nick sighed “How’d you even get this number.” He questioned.

Ana tsked “We’ll be asking the questions.”

Nick sighed again but didn’t say anything else.

“You promised.” Alex said after a beat of silence.

“How’d you find out?”  He questioned, thinking it better then to deny it.

“What did we say about questions?” Ana reprimanded.

“Look Natasha is only there to monitor. Nothing else.” He answered, defending his motives.

“But you still broke your promise! You said you wouldn’t send any of your agents! You sent The Black Widow!” Chryssy argued, enunciating the woman’s codename for emphasis.

“Only because I trust her! You think I’d just send anyone into my nieces home?” he queried. When the girls didn’t answer he counted it as a win. “Look I’m sorry I did it without telling you, but when he sent you three to New York I figured now would be a good time to keep an eye on him.” Nick explained.

“You still sent a stranger into our home!” Ana argued.

“I thought you three liked her?” he questioned.

“So we want to grow up to be her, doesn’t mean we know her.” Chryssy explained defensively.

Just then an idea formed in Ana’s head, she immediately sent it to her sisters through the link and the two smiled agreeing with her.

When the silence continued Nick became suspicious “No, I don’t need the three of you messing with Natasha’s mission.”

“Should have thought of that sooner!” Alex sang.

“No you can-” Nick tried only to be cut off.

“Love you! Bye!” The three chorused cutting him off.

Nick groaned wanting to bang his head against his desk. He pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. On his exhale he picked back up his office phone before dialing a number. The line rang three times before the person answered.

“You don’t usually call during my missions. What’s wrong?” she said by way of a greeting.

“You’ve been compromised.” Fury answered.

“That’s impossible.” She returned, Nick could here rustling through the line.

“I need you to continue on as normal.” He explained.

“If that’s the case then why’d you call?” she asked

“The person might try to contact you” he began.

“I can handle it.” She said easily.

“No!” he objected quickly. “I don’t need you too. Just, just go along with it. If this “person” asks for something, do it let it be known that you’re doing this in Stark’s favor. Your mission stays the same and your cover will remain intact.” Nick said through a sigh.

“Sir, I don-” she began only to be cut off.

“You have your orders agent.” he dismissed.

“Understood.” She returned before hanging up.

Nick ended another phone call pinching the bridge of his nose. Those girls, though so much like Tony, reminded him a lot of his sister. Overly protective and willing to do anything to protect their own. He sighed as he stood from his chair, he did one brief peruse of his office before stalking out of the room. He had an agency to run.

************

The three girls shuffled down the hall of the girl’s wing of the mansion. When Alex caught the scent they were looking for the three followed it to the last door at the end of the hall. She looked back at her sisters who nodded at her in encouragement. Taking a deep breath she knocked twice on the door before stepping back between her sisters as they waited.  A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a mutant with luminous green eyes and equally as bright pink highlights on black hair. She looked around before looking down to the girls smiling up happily at her. She smiled warmly before crouching down.

“Well hello.” She greeted.

“Hi Blink!” Alex greeted before opening her arms.

Blink’s smile deepened before she scooped the child into her embrace.

“What can I do for The Trinity today?” Blink questioned walking back into her room Alex still clutched firmly in her arms. Chryssy and Ana held daintily to the bottom of her dress as they followed the two inside the room.

“How far can you teleport?” Ana questioned.

“Well since I’ve been working with the professor, distance doesn’t seem to be an issue.” She answered.

“So Monaco?” Alex questioned, playing with a pink strand of the teens hair.

“Europe? What business do you three have there?” She questioned

“The Grand prix?” Chryssy offered.

“More specifically there’s a person! We just need to sneak something to her!” Ana continued.

“Like a surprise?” Blink offered.

“Exactly!” The three chorused.

She shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”

Alex clapped excitedly “Okay so here’s the plan!” she announced, explaining what the girls had discussed the night before.

 

The four stood outside behind the school, going over the plan one more time. Finally Blink took a deep breath before throwing out her left arm. A bright pink orb flashed out of her hand before expanding. Outlined in the shimmering pink was the image of the back wall of a restaurant the girls new to be where Tony would be eating that night, under the guise of the best hidden spot to step through the portal.

“You three first, I will come once you are all the way through!” she explained.

The girls nodded before jumping through the portal, they landed shakily but stayed upright. Blink jumped through not too long after, her portal disappearing with a quiet ‘blink’. She nodded to the girls before sliding on her pink rimmed sunglasses. The three smiled in response before following her out from behind the building, blending easily into the crowd.

Natasha sighed. Earning Pepper’s trust was not going to be as easy as earning Tony’s, though she’d expect nothing less from the woman who put up with the man after all these years. She’d gotten a call from him with the job offer as his Personal assistant almost as soon as she’d driven away from his Malibu mansion. He told her to meet them in Monaco with reservations under the Stark name. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing but she came dressed for the occasion confident in her pumps and a peach dress that was borderline business casual with a touch of pinup style. With her red curls cascading over her shoulder, she was sure to turn a few heads, which she was sure Stark would appreciate in a PA. She continued to walk towards the restaurant still slightly unsettled by the call she’d received from the Director. Compromised? She’d only started the mission a day and a half ago, how could she be compromised? Suddenly her hair rustled in an unnaturally cool breeze that disappeared as fast as it had come in the dry Monaco air, sending a chill up her spine. She checked her surroundings casually, the sidewalk she was walking on was fairly crowded filled with somebodies and nobodies bustling to and from the grand prix. As she continued her stride someone walking the opposite direction bumped into her. She ignored the intrusion turning into it so she wouldn’t be knocked off balance.

“Sorry!” the woman excused before continuing her trek.

 Natasha grunted in acknowledgement before continuing on her way.

 

Blink briskly walked back to the meeting point she’d set up with The Trinity. When she arrived back behind the building two of them were waiting there for her.

“Isn’t there usually three of you?” she questioned, just as a breeze fluttered around them.

 Chryssy appeared beside her sisters giggling excitedly. “That was awesome! We should definitely do this more often! We’re so good at it! She didn’t even feel me put the phone in her purse. The Art of misdirection.” she announced.  

Once Blink had drawn Natasha’s attention, it had been a simple task for Chryssy to appear beside the woman and drop the phone into her over the shoulder purse.

Blink smiled. “So you’re all set then?”

When the three nodded, she threw open another portal, which the girls immediately jumped through. She looked behind her before following after, the portal blinking out of existence behind her.

When Blink arrived back at the mansion she was tackled into a hug by the three girls waiting on the other side. She giggled, happy to return the embrace.

“Thanks for helping us!” Chryssy said before releasing the older girl. She turned, making her way back inside the mansion. Her sisters trailed behind her, turning to wave one last time to Blink.

**“Meet you inside!”** Chryssy thought to her sisters.

The two shrugged before holding hands and vanishing.

Chryssy sniffed once before finding what she was looking, the scent extremely potent to her sensitive nose. She found Logan on the couch lounging with a beer. She walked in front of him before poking him in the leg. He raised an eyebrow at her in question.

“We’re gonna be late, we’ve got _things_ to attend to.” She explained.

“What kind of _things_?” Logan mimicked as the child began to walk away.

“Ya know! Stuff!” she said before freezing at the scene displayed on the TV.

“What’s this?” She questioned.

“Hmm? Oh this? The Grand prix i-” he cut off

“Monaco!” Chryssy finished, gaping at the Television.

Logan too looked at the TV, finding the source of the toddler’s attention.

“What’s that that man up to now?” Logan questioned as Tony, dressed in a black and blue one piece racing suit, hopped over the wall separating the onlookers from the track.

“Well what’s the use of having and owning a racecar, if you don’t drive it?” Tony asked the camera before climbing into the vehicle.

Alex and Ana appeared on either side of Chryssy. “What’s taking you so.. What is he doing?” Alex questioned.

“Mom is going to kill him.” Ana announced wide eyed.

“Scoot over please!” Chryssy hissed.

Before Logan could move over the three climbed into the chair to sit beside him before continuing to stare at the television.

The twenty three cars lined up on the starting line, before taking off as they got the go signal. The girls watched enthralled in the sport as the cars fought for first place. As the cars neared their second lap, a man in an orange jump suit began to walk on the track, the camera zooming in to get a closer look. As he continued to walk his jumpsuit seemed to disintegrate, revealing a skeletal back piece with long electrical whips extending from each hand piece. The man began to lasso them as the first car came around the bend. As it neared, he slashed the whip down upon it, cutting clean through the car sending it spiraling through the air before it landed in a fiery explosion. As two more cars raced around the bend the man Whiplash, the panicked news anchor had dubbed him, continued to wreak havoc. The Girls watched petrified as the white and blue car labeled Stark rounded the corner none the wiser. Whiplash sliced his whip through the front half of Tony’s car sending it sailing through the air. Logan quickly reached over to cover Ana’s mouth, muffling what would have been an ear-splitting scream.

The camera continued to zoom in as the convict began to approach the car, he raised the whip up in an arc before slicing through the upside down car through the driver seat.

Logan yelped as Ana bit down into his hand, he quickly yanked it away hissing.

“Will you relax? He’s not even in the car!” He growled, motioning at the TV with his uninjured hand.

The four watched as Tony snuck up behind the felon, a misplaced driver’s seat held above his head. He quickly slammed it against Whiplash’s head, though it did little. The figure turned around to look at the now startled Tony before slicing his whip through the seat. Tony immediately let it go before attempting to run in the opposite direction. Whiplash seemed to laugh before catching Tony’s foot in the upswing of his whip, sending him flying into the nearest overturned racecar.

Logan winced as Tony made impact, sneaking a peak at the too quiet girls. Ana seemed to be hyperventilating, while Chryssy had a couch pillow clutched tightly to her chest, so that’s what that ripping noise was, her eyes glued to the television. Logan grimaced before looking on his other side at Alex, the girl was calm, too calm. Her face was slack as she watched the TV but her eyes were flashing between blue and brown. Logan was just about to give her a shake when a loud honking noise drew his attention back to the TV, he looked just in time to see a black Rolls Royce slam into Whiplash, Tony somehow managing to climb the fence high enough to avoid being hit by the car.

“YEAH!” Chryssy Shrieked startling the group.

“Are you enjoying this?” Ana shrieked.

“Hit em again!” Alex roared at the TV.

Logan whipped his head around back to Alex who was now brown eyed and standing on the couch fist raised in triumph as the Rolls Royce once again slammed into its victim. Tony stood to the side of the car as Whiplash raised his arm, slicing his whip through a corner of the car.

As the four continued to watch, once again transfixed by the suspense, a red and gold briefcase was thrown out of the newly opened hole in the side of the car to land at Tony’s feet. Tony immediately stepped down on an unseen button causing gears to whir. The briefcase began to unfold before encasing Tony in his red and gold armor. As the face plate slipped into place Tony gave a shove to the damaged car just as the Whiplash thought to slice through it again.

Turning to fully face the man, Tony aimed a repulsor beam at him, only for it to be deflected by his whip. Moving to aim again Tony was stopped as a whip wrapped around his outstretched arm. Whiplash yanked down sending Tony to one knee as the suit lit up with electricity.

“Of all the Elements!” Chryssy yelled throwing her pillow to the ground before immediately picking it up to resume squeezing the stuffing out of it.

“Come on, come on.” Ana quietly chanted like a prayer as Iron Man knelt on a bended knee in front of the Whiplash.

Just when all hope seemed to be lost Iron Man stood simultaneously wrapping more and more of the whip around his armor encased body. When he came close enough to do so, he lifted the man up before slamming him to the ground, the crowd’s cheers disrupting anything the camera man attempted to say about the turn of events. Iron man reached down before yanking out a glowing piece from Whiplash’s suit, crushing it in his gauntlet.

The Triplets cheered on the couch as the feed cut to commercial, Logan covering his ears from the onslaught of noise. Passing students continued to walk by as the three cheered around the common room.

                                                                                                                  *************************

Back in their room, the girls sat on Chryssy’s bed in their preferred circle.

“You’re sure this will work?”  Ana questioned.

“The line is secure and I will be working to keep the signal untraceable.” Jarvis answered.

“Okay.” Ana said easily before pressing the call button, putting it on speaker the three waited.

 

 

Natasha sighed, she should have known this wouldn’t be easy. It was just like Stark to go off and pull a stunt like entering into the grand prix at the last minute. The lunatic showing up on the track with electrical whips was just her luck. Not able to do much she watched as Pepper and Happy sped off without her to assist Stark. She sat back at the restaurant watching the live feed as Iron Man faced off against the threat. A Phone began to go off nearby. By the second ring she realized the noise was coming from her purse. As it rang the third time she had fished it out of her bag, eyeing the unknown number dubiously. By the fourth ring she decided to answer it.

“Hello.” She greeted casually, careful not to draw attention to herself.

“Ms. Widow.” A Russian accented males voice responded.

Natasha stiffened. “Who is this?” She questioned, before finding a quiet area away from prying ears.

“Never you mind.” He chided. “It has come to my attention that you’ve infiltrated Tony Stark’s inner circle.” The man inquired.

Natasha sighed, remembering her conversation with Director Fury. “That would be correct.” She affirmed tersely.

“If you’d like to remain there I have a few conditions.” he began.

“Anything you need.” Natasha agreed against her better judgement.

On the other end of the line the girls faltered they had not been expecting that.

“Really?” Ana questioned somehow remembering to use the Russian accent through her surprise.

The woman sighed on the line. “I’ve been informed by my superior to adhere to your demands. Being that my department usually doesn’t negotiate with just anyone, or anyone for that matter, I’d like to know who I’m speaking to.” Natasha asked grasping for details.

“I prefer to remain an enigma.” The voice returned.

Natasha shrugged. “It was worth a shot. So what are these conditions?” she conceded.

Ana shrugged on the other end. “Nothing too strenuous just updates on Mr. Stark’s condition.”

Natasha didn’t take long to mull it over. “Sounds easy enough. Anything specific?”

“Behavioral changes, sleep patterns, symptoms. You can send the information through texts to this phone. Enjoy your evening Ms. Rushman” The man voiced before ending the call.

Ana hung up the phone falling back onto the bed with a goofy smile.

“I talked to the black widow.” She sang.

Alex and Chryssy giggled at her antics before plopping down next to her.

“Now all we need to do is slow down the poison.” Alex declared.

                                                                                                                    *****************

Tony didn't remember falling asleep in his lab. He woke to the incessant beeping of the alert to another failed element.  He sighed before rubbing at his eyes. His talk with Ivan Vanko he remembered and the flight home was just a blur.

"TONY do you hear me? They're going to take your suits" Rhodey exclaimed exasperated.

Tony jerked startled. When had Rhodey gotten there? A slight breeze alerted him to the triplets’ arrival before he saw them materialize into the lab.

"Give him a break" Ana argued.

"Yeah he's dying! Can't you see?" Chryssy rebuffed.

Tony stared befuddled “who told you I was dying? Jarvis?"

The four ignored him.

"Hey maybe we can do a merger with Hammer Industries " Chryssy offered

"Yeah Pepper can marry Justin!" Alex agreed.

"What no she can’t!" Tony argued.

“He is cute.” Pepper added from her materialized spot beside Rhodey

"Can you imagine him with papa's beard" Ana giggled.

"I can't unsee that, thanks kid" Rhodey laughed.

Tony did not laugh. He began to cough clutching his chest piece.

The group began to chant his name. Why would they cheer for his death?

"Tony! Tony! TONY!" Rhodey yelled rustling Tony from what was clearly at fitful sleep.

The man groaned before rubbing his eyes.

"Hey man you okay? You're not looking to great!" Rhodey said, attempting to help Tony stand up. The two eventually made over to his desk, where Tony switched out the depleted Palladium core for a newer one.

“That’s what’s inside you? Is it supposed to be smoking?” Rhodey questioned.

“If you must know its neutron damage. It’s from the reactor wall.” Tony huffed out as he closed the chest a piece.

“And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?” He questioned motioning to the growing veins extending from Tony’s chest to his neck.

“Road rash!” Tony sassed.

Rhodey stared down at Tony, confused as to why the man was going through all this trouble.

“What are you looking at?” Tony jibed.

“You don’t have to do this alone, and you’ve got Pepper and Natalie upstairs trying to make sense of that mess in Monaco.” Rhodey chided

“Who?” Tony asked

“Your new secretary, you know what forget it.” Rhodey announced with a sigh. “Just remember you’ve got the girls to think about.

“Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing.” Tony countered.

“Yeah I hope so!” Rhodey quipped before exiting the lab.

[Stark family values story board](https://www.pinterest.com/angelcakes12332/stark-family-values/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo what did you think?? I love adding X-men Cameos!! Blink was one of my favorites from Days of Future past and when I needed a teleporting Mutant it came down to knightcrawler and Blink... after looking into it.. turns out knightcrawler can't really do distance where as Blink's limitation is described as to the moon and back. Also I've kind of find my inspiration for the triplets! a set of twins they are too cute and are on my Pinterest storyboard!(The link at the bottom of the story) I've tried drawing them a few times and meh its not too bad, i'll post those some other time (i.e. when i figure out how to post pictures on here lol) Thanks for reading! let me know what you think??


	22. I solemnly Swear, That I Am Up To No Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry. That took a ridiculous amount of time. Two chapters anyone?

The three girls chatted happily as they walked down the stairs of Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. Professor McCoy, briefcase in hand, walked contently towards the schools exit only to be stopped by the smiling triplets

“What?” Hank questioned pausing in his movements.

The girls only smiled wider.

“Oh fine! Make it quick.” the older mutant said placing his briefcase on the ground.

They giggled happily before throwing themselves at the fury mutant, eliciting chuckles from the man.

“So soft.” Ana murmured into his leg.

Hank let out a fond sigh.

“Where ya headed professor?” Chryssy questioned, still holding tight to his leg.

“I have a meeting at Culver University with a few scientist who teach there.” He announced, lightly shaking his leg in hopes of being released.

Alex looked up hopefully “Can we come? There’s no classes today!” she asked.

“Well I don’t know.” Hank answered thoughtfully “You’d have to get permission from Professor Xavier as well as your guarcdian.”

“Five seconds don’t move!” Ana ordered. “Chryssy!” she delegated, nodding at her before disappearing with Alex.

“Got it!” Chryssy called after her before sighing into the hug again. “So soft.” She mumbled, before vanishing.

Hank released another sigh.

Not a minute later Alex and Ana reappeared.

“Our dad says its fine!” Ana announced, just as Chryssy reappeared.

“And the Professor said it was okay if our dad said it was okay! But that it was really up to you! So is it okay?” Chryssy rushed out, ending with the three girls once again smiling hopefully at Hank.

Hank pretended to mull it over before a small grin broke out.

“Oh alright! Grab your bags. We’ll be flying.” Hank answered.

They did a small jig of success, before disappearing and reappearing with their backpacks.

****************

Hank and the girls walked through the university’s halls, the girls tailing close as he made his way to a door with ‘Professor Ross’ labeled on the plaque beside it. He knocked twice before pushing open the door. Inside a man and a woman in white lab coats were working over a beaker. Hank cleared his throat causing the two glance up, the man seemed to startle at the blue mutant, but the woman only smiled.

“Dr. McCoy! Good afternoon!” she greeted shaking his hand.

“Dr. Ross! Good afternoon.” He returned.

Dr. Ross glanced down at the triplets staring up at her curiously.

“Well hello! Who might you be?” She questioned.

Ana poked Alex in the arm, who sighed in response.

“Hi, I’m Alex and these are my sisters, Chryssy, and Ana!” She introduced smiling up at the woman.

“Betty Ross, and it’s a pleasure to meet you!” the woman returned smiling at each of the girls before turning back to Hank. “Did you want to get started I’m eager to see what you’ve been working on!” the woman beamed.

The man who’d been silent cleared his throat.

“Oh right, this is Dr. Thomas Shaw, Dr. Shaw meet Dr. Hank McCoy.” She introduced.

Hank reached out to shake the man’s hand. “It’s a pleasure.” Hank said with a nod.

The man grimaced “I’m sure. I too am eager to get started, however I don’t believe this is the proper place for your, companions.” He announced with a glance towards the girls.

Alex bristled “Why not?” she asked

“Well for one we don’t have protective goggles or lab coats in your size.” He explained

“That’s okay we brought our own!” Ana announced cheerfully.

“Right, I don’t think it would be appropriate for the three of them to be near our work.” He tried again talking to Betty.

“That’s okay! We brought our own!” Chryssy announced less cheerfully, placing her hands on her hips.

Alex quickly turned towards Betty. “Actually we were wondering if any labs were empty, maybe we could borrow one?” she asked.

“Sure, I’ll show you to the lab in the next classroom it should be empty.” Betty announced leading the girls away from the two men.

“See you later Professor!” The triplets chorused.

Hank waved goodbye before finding a spot to unpack his things.

 

“What’s up with that guy?” Ana questioned, as Betty unlocked the lab door.

“He’s not really good with kids. Or people for that matter.” She offered. “Here you go if you need anything I’ll be next door.” Betty announced as she opened the door for the girls.

The girls watched her leave before getting situated at a desk. Grabbing her tablet from her bag Alex began to set up.

“Good afternoon Jarvis!” she greeted.

“Good afternoon Miss Alex. How may I be of assistance?” Jarvis returned.

“Well we’re gonna test some elements. The problem with the reactor is that the palladium cores are corroding too fast, well we were thinking that maybe we could find a way to slow that down?” she announced.

“Very well I shall monitor and offer my assistance when needed.” Jarvis announced before going silent.

An hour later the door knob jiggled before opening. Ana looked up to greet who she thought was Professor McCoy, only to be confronted by a man dressed in a purple button up and khaki pants layered with a white lab coat. He was just putting his glasses on when he realized the room wasn’t empty.

“Uhhh.” He stammered.

“Who are you?” Ana questioned, hopping down from her chair.

“Er, Sorry Dr. Bruce Banner?” he seemed to ask.

Alex gasped before whipping her head around. “Thee Dr. Bruce Banner?” She shrieked.

“Here we go.” Ana mumbled before taking over for Alex.

“Your work on cold Nuclear Fusion is unparalleled!” Alex shrieked shaking the man’s hand that was low enough for her to reach.

“Uh, wow, thank you?” He said a little flabbergasted. “Not that I don’t believe you’re never too young to be interested in science, but aren’t you girls a little young. You can’t be older than five.” He questioned.

“Four actually, Alexandria Trescott but you can call me Alex” She beamed.

“Right, are you three here with someone?” Bruce questioned.

“Dr. Ross said it was okay if we used this lab while she and Professor McCoy worked.” She answered easily.

“And what exactly are you working on, if you don’t mind my asking.” Bruce questioned

Chryssy and Ana looked up to make eye contact with Alex, after a moment she turned back to Bruce.

“That’s classified.” Alex answered.

Bruce chuckled “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry its jus- Is that Lithium?” he asked stalking towards Chryssy

“Uh, no?” Chryssy denied.

“Should you be shaking it like that?” He asked.

Ana sighed. “We’re trying to corrode this element and see if we can temporarily reverse the damage by coating it with the lithium as a barrier to reinforce the metal.” She responded.

Bruce hummed thoughtfully. “Have you tried oxidizing it?” He asked after a beat.

Alex almost cried in relief before running to her tablet to talk to Jarvis about testing.

Chryssy and Ana stared up at him in awe, the man growing uncomfortable at the attention.

“I’m sorry did I overstep?” he questioned not sure of their reactions.

“Dr. Banner you are a life saver!” Ana said voice still sounding a bit awed.

“Literally.” Chryssy murmured before turning back to her notepad.

“Call me Bruce.” He told her, causing Alex to gasp.

“Or don’t?” he said unsure.

“Oh no, too late Uncle Brucey! You’ve got a friend in me!” Ana sing-songed. Causing the man to chuckle in response. Bruce sat down at the desk in the room opening drawers at his desk.

“Oh you’re staying?” Chryssy questioned.

“Well, seeing as though it’s my lab, yes. If you girls want to stay I don’t mind the company.” He returned not looking up from his rummaging. Glancing at a small stack of papers on his desk Bruce removed his glasses before pinching the bridge of his nose. Standing the man began to gather the papers.

“I thought you said you were staying?” Alex questioned.

“I am. I was. I just need to drop these papers off at the office.” He answered.

“We could do it?” Ana offered.

“I thought you three were working on something.” He asked

“It’s still testing, we could use a break.” Alex added.

“Um sure, just take this to the office down the hall, someone should be at the front desk. If you need anything you can either call my extension or Dr. Ross’.” He said, handing them a post it note with their extensions written on it.

Chryssy nodded before placing it in her pocket while Alex grabbed the stack of papers he’d placed in the folder.

“Be right back!” Chryssy called closing the door behind her.

The three followed Banners directions, easily making it to the office, Ana pushed open the door, looking around the room for the front desk. Finding it in the corner of the room they found a young woman with brunette hair and glasses furiously typing at a desktop computer. The woman didn’t seem to notice them as they approached the desk.

“Excuse me!” Ana called.

Glancing up then down the woman stared curiously at the triplets.

“Are you three lost?” she asked.

“Nope! Dr. Banner asked us to drop this off here!” Alex announced offering the woman the file.

The woman let out a sigh, before taking the offered folder.

“Scientist.” She grumbled before adding it to a drawer.

The triplets continued to watch her.

“I’m sorry did you need anything else?” She asked, with a raised eyebrow

“Are you okay?” Chryssy asked.

“Me? Peachy keen, just need three science credits to graduate and there’s only one semester left in the term.” She grumbled.

“Are you looking for classes to take?” Ana asked coming to stand beside the girl at the desk.

“Yup!” She replied, popping the P.

“Any luck?” Alex asked following behind her sister.

The young woman groaned “No, every class is already full.”

“What if you help out one of the scientist who work here?” Chryssy asked.

“Like an internship? Sure if I was on terms with any who’d be willing to take Me.” she returned.

Alex smiled. “Can I borrow this?” She asked reaching for the desk phone, as she asked.

“Er, sure I guess. No dialing out though.” she said with a chuckle

Chryssy handed Alex the post it note. Alex looked down at it before typing in a phone number. On the third ring someone answered.

“Dr. Ross”. Betty greeted

“Hi Dr. Ross! It’s Alex!” she returned.

“Alex, are you calling from the office? Is everything okay?” Betty questioned startled.

“We’re fine! Dr. Banner needed to take something to the office so we offered to do it!” Alex explained cheerfully.

“Oh, alright, well what did you need?” she asked

“Well, the front desk lad-” Alex cut off looking expectantly at the young woman

“Darcy Lewis.” She offered

“Darcy Lewis needs some help. She’s missing a few science credits, and we were wondering if you knew anyone needing extra help.”

“Like an intern? No. Well actually, can you put her on the phone?” Betty asked.

“Sure!” Alex said before covering the receiver. “She wants to talk to you!” Alex told Darcy, happily.

Darcy nodded eagerly before taking the offered phone.

“Hello.” She greeted.

The girls chose to make their exit, waving to the woman before leaving the office.

“Dr. Jane Foster? Thank you so much I’ll put in the application now!” The girls heard as they closed the door behind them, making their way back to Dr. Banner.

“Hey Uncle Bruce! Do you mind if we borrow some of your chemical containers?” Ana asked as the three began to pack up their experiment.

“Huh? Oh sure thing.” he said glancing up from his computer screen.

Nodding they returned their equipment to Alex’s backpack before heading back to Professor McCoy.

Hank seemed to be just finishing up as they came into the room, making plans with Dr. Ross to meet again.

“So did you girls get anythi-.” Hank cut off as his cellphone began to ring.

The girls watched as the man became more and more disgruntled by whatever the person on the other line was saying.

“I see. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He said before hanging up.

“Is something wrong, professor?” Alex questioned.

“Well it seems the mansion was attacked, I need to check and see what damage has been done, but I don’t think it’s safe to bring you three with Me.” he finished.

Chryssy nodded “That’s okay, we can call some one to pick us up.”

Ana dug into Chryssy’s backpack, pulling out their emergency phone to dial Pepper.

“Hello?” Pepper greeted.

“Momma!” Ana returned.

“Sweetheart! Is everything okay?” Pepper asked

“Yes and no.” Ana returned

Pepper sighed. “What happened?”

“Well we were out with Professor McCoy when the school was attacked. He needs to go back, but the school is going to be closed to students, so we need someone to pick us up from Culver University!”

“What? Is everything okay?” she asked

“We’re fine, but that’s all I know!” Ana announced helpfully.

“Okay, I’ll see who’s available to pick you three up.” Pepper conceded

A few minutes later and Pepper informed them that Nick would be sending someone to bring them to his “office”.

“Let me know when you three get in okay?” she questioned.

“Ok bye!” Ana said before hanging up.

Ana looked to Hank. “Our Uncle’s sending someone to pick us up.” She announced but she looked like she wanted to say more.

“What is it?” Hank asked worried.

“Nothing it’s just, he doesn’t know we’re mutants.” She said sheepishly.

“Well surely one look at me and he’ll know something.” Hank said thoughtfully.

The three returned inside to Dr. Ross who agreed to escort the girls outside when their ride arrived. Thirty minutes later a black suburban pulled up to their wing of the university, a man in black pants, a dark purple crew neck, layered with a black vest stepped out. As he approached them he removed his sunglasses to address the waiting group.

“Well if it isn’t my three favorite trouble makers!” Clint greeted.

The three squealed before running to hug the man.

“I take it you’re their ride?” Betty asked.

“Clint Barton.” he greeted, reaching out to shake her hand.

Betty looked down at the girls for confirmation.

“Oh right! My cat is fat, how bad is that?” Chryssy prompted the man.

The man mumbled incoherently.

“What was that?” Ana giggled out.

“She sleeps at night, gives me a fright. My silly old cat!” Clint finished before putting his sunglasses back on.

The girls burst into giggles at the finished code, Betty covered her mouth to smother her own laughter.

“Okay, okay! Can we go now?” Clint questioned.

“Mhm!” Ana agreed, before turning to hug Betty, her sisters joining in.

“It was really nice to meet you three!” Betty told them returning the hug.

“Thanks for everything!” Alex called as they made their way to the car, Clint opening the back door to help the three in. Once he buckled them in, he waved goodbye to the doctor before climbing back into the driver’s seat and pulling off.

“You three have gotten so big since the last time I saw you!” Clint announced.

“Yeah we’re four now!” Ana said happily.

“Four? No way!” Clint returned.

The four continued to chat on the drive back to shield’s New York headquarters.

*******************

  Clint escorted them into the facility, turning down different halls.

“Alright so I’m your designated agent for today.” he told them.

“Oh we actually need to see the big man!” Chryssy explained.

“You mean the Director?” he questioned unsure of why the girls would need to see the Director of shield.

“Yup!” Ana answered, popping the P.

“No can do, kiddo. I’m under strict orders ladies.” Clint explained

“I see.” Alex returned before beginning a silent conversation with her sisters

Clint began to babble about the things they could do, after a while when he didn’t receive a response he turned around.

“How does that soun-…. Girls?” Clint questioned not seeing the three behind him anymore.

“Oh great, Coulson told me you three would be tricky.” He said to no one, before running back down the hall. As he turned around the corner, Ana peeked out from their hiding spot.

“We’ll find him later!” She said before continuing down the hall.

“Jarvis what’s the quickest way to Uncle Nick’s office” she asked looking down at her wrist watch.

“Walking through the corridor or crawling through the vents?” Jarvis questioned.

“The vents of course!” Chryssy giggled out.

“Of course young miss, whatever was I thinking? You’ll find the closest vent up ahead, I’ll be more than happy to direct you.” Jarvis announced.

Alex looked up at the vent before moving to stand beneath it. Chryssy stood into her cupped hands before sitting on her shoulders. Once she was situated, Ana began the climb before settling on top of Chryssy’s shoulders. Alex grabbed Chryssy’s feet, pushing the two up closer to the vent. Chryssy repeated this process with Ana who was now with in touching distance of the Vent. Pulling out a pocket screwdriver Ana began unscrewing the vent cover before climbing inside. Reaching down she grasped Chryssy’s forearms. Alex easily began to climb Chryssy before climbing into the vent, the two easily pulling Chryssy inside together before replacing the vent cover.

“Shit, shit, shit!” They heard mumbled as Clint walked beneath the now covered vent.

Chryssy quickly muffled Ana’s giggles.

“Straight ahead, if you please.” Jarvis announced getting the three back on track.

Ten minutes later the three climbed down into Nick’s empty office.

Dropping down into his oversized desk chairs before getting comfortable, knowing Nick would be in soon once he got the call that they were missing.

A chime in his ear alerted Nick to an incoming call.

“Fury.” He greeted.

“Sir, it would seem your guest have arrived safely.” Coulson returned.

“Why do I sense a, but?” Nick questioned pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Well after agent Barton informed them of his planned itinerary, the three ran off.” Coulson explained.”

“Of course they did. Keep me posted.” he dismissed before leaving the viewing station of the new recruits in the training room.

Coming up to his receptionist he paused. “Anyone in?” he asked out of curiosity.

“No sir!” she returned before going back to her work.

“Right.” He said with a nod before unlocking his door.

Slowly pushing open his door he looked around his office, before letting out a sigh.

Tapping his ear piece he called Coulson. “Call him off, I’ve got them.” He said before hanging up.

The three girls were sprawled out on the floor happily coloring in their books.

“You couldn’t just stay with your assigned agent?” he questioned.

“We needed to talk with you!” Ana said not glancing up from her coloring book.

“Okay I’m all ears.” He said, taking a seat at his desk.

“We’ve been working on something to help Papa!” Ana told him.

“You have?” he asked leaning forward.

“Yeah we think we’ve figured it out.” Alex said.

“It just needs to be tested.” Chryssy finished.

“I can have someone test it. If it works I’ll deliver it to your father.” Nick offered.

“We can take it to him.” Chryssy said confused.

“Actually. Ms. Potts and I agreed it might be a good idea for you to spend some time with me.” Nick said, leaning back in his chair.

“Like a sleepover?” Ana asked excitedly.

“Sort of.” Nick returned.

“Oh wow! This could be epic! Do you live here? Or some remote island?” Chryssy asked.

“If by Remote Island you mean Long island then sure.” He said, amused.

“Are we going there?” Alex asked.

“Unfortunately it’s been a busy week, so I’ve been staying at my apartment in this building.” Nick explained.

“We don’t have any more clothes.” Alex said.

“Ms. Potts is having some sent over. They should be here later today.” Nick told her.

The girls shrugged their acceptance.

“Now I’m going to have Coulson take you back to agent Barton. And the three of you will stay with him until I send for you later. Is that understood?” Nick explained.

“Aye, aye!” The three said with a salute.

Coulson chose that moment to enter the room and collect the girls, leaving the director wondering how he ended up with three Stark’s for nieces.

“I take it you three have been well?” Coulson asked as they made their way down the elevator.

Ana giggled before clearing her throat. “Yes we’ve been well thank you for asking.” She said seriously.

Coulson’s mouth twitched but he remained stoic as he led them to another room. As he opened the door, a seated Agent Barton leapt to his feet.

“Where did you find them!” he asked immediately.

“Wandering. I believe you’ll be taking my warning more seriously. These girls are slippery.” Coulson turned towards the girls. “Trescotts.” He said with a nod, discreetly low fiving the three on his way out the door.

Once the door closed with a click the three turned to Agent Barton with innocent smiles plastered on their faces.

“Uh, uh. Don’t give me that! I thought we were friends! How could you just ditch me like that?” he questioned, squatting down to their level.

Ana stepped forward into his personal space cocking her head to the side to look up at him cutely.

Clint looked down dubiously holding his glare as he made eye contact with the child.

She blinked twice.

Clint began to squint.

Slowly she reached a pointed finger towards his face.

The Agent began to struggle to remain impassive.

Reaching her destination Ana gently poked the man on his cheek with a “Boop!”

His lips began to twitch.

Reaching out again with two hands she began to mush his face together.

“We’re sorry Agent Barton! For now on we’ll stick to you like glue!” Ana said seriously stepping forward. He allowed her to pull him into a hug immediately joined by her two sisters.

“Oh alright but no funny business.” He said moving to stand up, only for the three to remain attached to him, giggling madly all the while.

Clint sighed looking up at the ceiling. “You walked right into that one Barton.”

The girls continued to giggle.

“Are you three hungry? Because I’m hungry.” He offered.

“Starving!” Chryssy announced.

“I could eat a whole chicken!” Alex chimed.

“You do realize the saying is Cow.” Clint reminded.

The three only looked up at him perplexed.

“Never mind. To the cafeteria.” He said going to step forward before pausing mid step.

“Are you three really going to hang on the whole time?” he questioned

“Yup!” they chorused.

“Well then.” He said, adjusting them slightly. “Let’s do this.”

The walk to the cafeteria was filled with giggles and confused looks from onlookers but they made it there none the less. Clint getting their food quickly became a process, eventually he coaxed them into sitting at a table to eat. The four chatting happily until the end of their meal.

“So what did you three want to do?” Clint asked, once they’d finished.

When all he got were shrugs he raised his eyebrow.

“What? You mean Agents Miscy, May and Maddi have hung up their badges?” he challenged.

After a shared look between the girls, and a smirk they sent to the Agent, the group sat situated around a vent.

“So explain this to me again.” Barton announced.

“We’ve been working on this, bouncy ball to play with. And basically it takes in a biometric scan of whatever part of your body it hits.” Ana easily explained.

“So it’s basically a game of dodge ball where the ball is your opponent.” Chryssy finished.

“So what makes this prank so great?” he questioned knowing the girls had to have something up their sleeves.

“Well after we played with one of our _friends_ , we had to make a few modifications.” Alex said.

“What kind of modifications?” Clint questioned only to receive giggles in response.

“You’ll see! Is this the vent to the training room?” Chryssy asked.

“Yup.” he answered.

At the confirmation the three began working on unscrewing the lid and getting out their ball.

“Should we put it on easy?” Alex questioned.

“These are shield Agents!” Clint reminded.

“Easy is the lowest setting!” Alex defended.

“That’s not what I meant!” Clint whisper shouted. “These are trained agents! At least put it on medium!” he bargained.

Alex looked to her sisters who shrugged in response. “Okay. But we warned you!” Alex told him before flicking the switch up a notch, she held it over the open vent. “Operation B.O.U.N.CE is a go.” She announced before releasing the Toy.

As it fell the ball began to speak in an oddly professional female voice for a bright sparkling yellow ball with a smiley face on it.

“Let’s Play! Dodge ball has been selected. The use of weapons is strongly advised against during our game.” It finished just as it hit the floor. It bounced back into the air on an angle picking up speed. Seeking the body heat of the nearest person, it smacked into his head.

“What the hell?” The agent shrieked, before kicking the ball.

It hit into the nearest wall, where it bounced back with seemingly doubled speed.

The agent dove out of the way with a yell, allowing the ball to smack into the agent behind him. And thus the game ensued. The ball continued to seek out body heat and anytime an agent sent it flying into a hard surface it doubled back in speed.

As it flew towards its next target the agent stood his ground. “Enough!” he yelled firing two shots off at the ball from a gun he seemed to pull out of nowhere.

In the vents the four were doubled over in laughter at the frustrated agents.

As the shots rang out Barton wiped at his eyes. “Well game over then.” he announced.

A still giggling Ana managed to breathe out. “Keep watching.” As she said it, the agent below shouted “What the hell?” For the ball had increased from the one into three.

“What kind of evil geniuses are you?” Clint questioned dismayed.

“Evil is a subjective term!” Alex responded without missing a beat, leaving the man gob smacked.

Below the balls continued to wreak havoc bouncing off of heads, surface and each other, only to continue to pick up speed.

As four more shots rang out the balls numbers increased to seven.

The room filled with shouts and thumps as the agents scrambled away from the Toy. When one agent remained standing, the balls began to crowd him, circling their pray as he backed himself into a corner.

“Rookie mistake.” Chryssy chuckled.

 At once the balls released the pent up energy they had stored and directly aimed it at the cowering agent, each hitting its mark. Once the agent admitted defeat and sprawled out on the floor. (A way to get out of the game that two felled agents realized half way through the massacre.) The balls dropped harmlessly to the ground before joining back together into one ball.

“Let’s play again soon!” The professional voice announced before rolling towards the door.

Agent Coulson chose that moment to step into the room ready to inform the group of his announcement before looking around confused at his groaning agents. A light tap on his foot made him look down.

“Do you want to play?” The voice asked.

“No thank you.” Coulson replied, before reaching down for the ball.

Alex immediately shut it down remotely before the ball could take his advance as willingness to play.

Coulson continued to look at the ball turning it over before pausing on a spot that read T3 Productions. The man sighed before looking up at the vents.

“Go! Go! Go!” Clint whispered urgently as the four made their escape.

When he felt they were a safe distance away, they found the nearest vent to climb out of and pretend to be innocent.

“What kind of _Friends_ do you guys hang out with that would require that kind of modification?” Clint asked once they were seated in the empty break room.

“He’s harmless!” Ana said casually.

“Right.” Clint returned.

“So how’d you get the name Hawkeye?” Alex asked after a beat of silence.

“Yeah! Did you fight a hawk and steal his eye?” Chryssy rushed out.

“What?” Clint gaped.

“It could happen.” She defended.

“Sure it can. But no I’m actually an expert marksman. Never miss a shot.” He announced proudly.

“Prove it!” Ana ordered.

And that’s how they found themselves in the shooting range.

As the four entered, Alex looked around.

“Why is it so empty?”

“They assign me a private shooting range when I come to the facilities.” Clint said easily.

“Why?” Ana questioned.

“Things kept blowing up.” He told them with a shrug.

The girls paused mid step. Clint turned around when he realized they weren’t following.

“What? Why’d you stop?” he asked.

“Our mom doesn’t like us near things that explode.” Chryssy explained.

It took Clint half a second to come to the conclusion that he did not want to question that statement, so instead he said.

“Don’t worry I won’t use any of my trick arrows.”

“Trick arrows?” Alex asked

“What kind of trick arrows?” Chryssy queried, running over to where the man had stopped.

“Um you know. Ones that explode, some that release nets. Things like that.” He explained.

“Very interesting.” The three chorused.

Clint glanced down at them before shaking his head.

“Don’t ask Barton, you don’t want to know.” He said aloud. After setting up he stretched, turning he notched an arrow aiming for the bullseye.

The girls watched enthralled as he shot the aligned targets one after the other, each arrow hitting its mark. The three clapped when he was finished the archer giving exaggerated bows.

“Do they move?” Chryssy asked.

“The targets? Yeah but not much, it’s kind of just repeats the same rotation.” Clint explained.

“Where do you turn it on?” Alex asked.

Clint led the three over to a panel on the wall, littered with different buttons.

“Hmm.” Alex hummed thoughtfully before digging in her bag.

“Oh you’re right! I do!” Chryssy shrieked before digging into her bag as well.

“What’s going on?” Clint questioned dubiously

“Let it happen!” Ana told him calmly.

“Let what happen?” he asked.

Chryssy pulled out two Ziploc bags of small black round circles, one labeled with a plus sign and the other labeled with a minus.

Alex hit a button making the targets shut down. She nodded towards Chryssy before using her tablet to view the inner workings of the control panel.

Ana easily hoisted Chryssy over the divider and into the range, where she began placing the circles on the ground while putting some on throwing targets. When she finished the targets laid on the ground. Clint reached over the divider to pick her up, placing her back beside her sisters.

“Thank you!”

“Anytime kid. Does one of you want to tell me what’s going on?” he questioned.

Ana turned to him. “Well non-moving targets are boring, and predictable targets are boring too. Chryssy put our magnets on some of them, and Alex is taking control of the range. You’ll have to shoot the targets and don’t worry we’ll be out of the way.” She explained.

“That’s really impressive! So you three are definitely kid geniuses then?” he asked.

The three turned to him with raised eyebrows.

“You’re just coming to that conclusion?” Chryssy returned

“Well your other toys could have been made by someone else, but you three are literally hacking into a shield database. A less secure one, but still that takes work. But you three are what four years old? It took a while but I’ve seen it and now I believe it.” He said with a shrug.

“Gee thanks.” Chryssy grumbled, eliciting giggles from her sisters.

“Don’t take it too hard Chryssy, he still hasn’t seen us in the gym.” Alex said whilst closing the wall panel.

“Wait what? Aren’t geniuses supposed to be bad at physical activities?” he asked.

“We are not your average child geniuses. Now which way to the observation room? You’re definitely going to want to use your exploding arrows.” Alex told him.

Once the three were safely in the observing deck Ana’s voice came over the intercom.

“Okay Hawkguy show us what you got.” She taunted.

“It’s Hawkeye!” he enunciated.

There was a loud click and two of the targets began to float in the air, before aimlessly moving around the room.

“Easy.” Clint breathed as he shot his arrows, hitting the mark.

“Good okay. We’re sending the rest!” Ana announced before once again going silent.

“The rest?” he questioned as twenty plus targets rose from the ground, before dipping and dodging around the room.

“Oh m-” Clint cut off.

“You’re being timed!” Chryssy reminded him.

That seemed to spur him into action. Arrows loosed all around the room each one hitting the mark. He soon realized he would need to dodge as three of the targets came beaming at him.

The phone in the viewing deck began to ring. Alex continued to remotely control the magnets while Chryssy aided her in the best maneuvers to trip up the archer.

Ana hopped down from her seat before picking up the phone. Nick’s voice coming over the line.

“Do I want to know why I’ve been informed about a security breech in the training room?’ he asked.

“Nope! It’s just us!” Ana consoled.

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Nick told her with a sigh.

“Aww Uncle Nick don’t you trust us?” she asked innocently.

“Return my agent in one piece.” He said before hanging up, causing Ana to giggle.

She skipped back over to her sisters, watching as Alex managed to clip Clint in the leg with one of the targets. The archer tucked into a roll as he lost his balance, standing he fired off three arrows before the target began to beep. The girls watched as the target exploded into fiery pieces.

“Awesome!” Chryssy whispered in a daze.

Thirty minutes later there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” Ana questioned.

“Agent Coulson.” The stoic voice answered.

“How do I know it’s you?” Ana asked.

“I could just override the locks.” He offered.

“Do it!” Ana giggled excited.

A sigh and a series of clicks later, the door opened to reveal the agent.

“It is you!” Ana shrieked before hugging the man.

He held back a chuckle, clearing his throat.

“Can I ask what you three are doing?” he queried.

Ana continued to hug him, sparing one hand to point at the viewing glass.

He watched as Clint dodged targets and shot off various arrows.

“And you’re controlling the targets?” he asked.

“Mhm. Do you want to try?” Alex offered.

“I really shoul-” He cut off when Alex pushed the remote into his hands.

“You just mov- Oh okay!” Alex cut off, watching as Coulson easily took control of the targets.

“Is there a faster setting?” he questioned.

Alex pointed to a numbered nob on the remote.

“Thank you.” He said before turning it up two notches.

A moment later Clint’s voice echoed through the training room.

“Hey girls! How about we take it down a notch? We’ve been doing this for a while!” He shouted as he dove behind one of the dividers. Peeking over he fired an arrow at the offending target.

“You’re not getting tired, are you agent Barton?” Coulson questioned over the intercom.

“Coulson?” Clint asked turning to look at the viewing area only to turn back towards a target that was trying to sneak up behind him.

“How hard is it to turn in your paper work on time?” Coulson questioned in his usual stoic manor, thought there was a gleam in his eye that the girls were pretty sure hadn’t been there before. The three began to giggle uncontrollably as Clint’s work out became more intense.

As if just remembering they were there Coulson spoke.

“By the way I believe I found something of yours in one of the recruit training rooms. Does a certain sparkling ball ring a bell?” he questioned while sending a target straight at Clint.

“Oh come on! You’re not even being discreet anymore!” Clint huffed just barely missing being barreled over.

“Who said anything about being discreet?” Coulson questioned. “The director is holding it for you. He’s also ready for your three now.” Coulson announced finally shutting down the targets, causing them all to drop lifelessly to the ground.

Clint let out a loud and dramatic sigh before dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

“Good talk!” Coulson called over the intercom.

Clint responded with a barely lifted finger in the air before plopping it back down.

“Right, shall we get moving then?” Coulson questioned.

“One second.” Chryssy shrieked before running into the training room. Reaching into her bag she dropped a water bottle beside Clint before running back to the exit. She paused momentarily to click the buttons on the normal looking Ziploc bags with the plus and minus signs. Suddenly the magnets disengaged from their places, they swarmed in the air for half a second before dividing themselves into the proper bag.

“Convenient.” Coulson announced trying not to gape, before leading the triplets out of the room.

“What should we do about Uncle Clint?” Alex questioned.

“He’ll be fine.” Coulson returned failing in hiding his amusement at the endearment.

The girls shrugged before following the agent down the hall hand in hand. When they reached the Director’s door the four paused in front of it. The girls waited expectantly for Coulson to open unlock the door.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Alex questioned as the agent continued to stand there.

“Actually I was waiting to see how you three usually got in.” Coulson replied.

“We don’t usually come in through the door.” Chryssy told him easily.

“Yeah! And when we do, the door is usually open.” Alex added.

“That’s not possible, the Director’s door stays locked at all times.” Coulson returned.

“Except when his secretary brings his food in.” Ana told him.

“We usually just go in while she’s exiting.” Alex explained.

“How do you go in without her noticing?” he challenged.

“You say it like it’s hard.” Alex said confused.

“That’s because it should be.” Coulson said with a sigh, opening the door and motioning them to enter first.

“Don’t be upset, we get around the building undetected pretty easily.” Ana consoled, patting his leg.

“No you don’t get it. Four year olds shouldn’t be able to do that, I assumed someone must have been helping you.” Coulson said.

Alex froze. “Are you saying we aren’t capable of doing it ourselves?” she asked

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Coulson told her.

Alex nodded thoughtfully before taking a seat in the room. “Okay. Challenge accepted.” Alex announced.

“That wasn’t a challenge.” Coulson said.

“Ahh but it was, we must defend our honor!” Chryssy shrieked, shaking her tiny fist dramatically in the air.

 “You really don’t!” Coulson tried.

“We do. Expect results by the end of the day.” Ana said typing on her recently drawn tablet.

“What kind of results!” A deep voice demanded from the door.

The four looked up to see Nick’s one eye glaring at them.

“You’ll see!” The triplets sing-songed.

“I was only trying to figure out how the three maneuvered the building so easily.” Coulson said.

Nick had to put all his effort into controlling his reaction. “What have you wrought?” Nick questioned before collecting the girls and escorting them to his onsite apartment.

Coulson stayed in the same spot until another agent managed to shake him out of his stupor.

*****************

As the girls finished brushing their teeth Nick tried once again to talk the girls out of their plans.

“Coulson didn’t mean it the way he said it.” Nick began.

“Oh! But he did!” Alex yelled. “Telling us we must have had help. Well, will show him!” She announced. A gleam in her eye that Nick was beginning to worry about.

“So there’s no way of talking you three out of this?” he questioned.

“Nope!” They chimed.

“God help us all.” Nick said with a sigh. Tucking the three in Nick prayed his Agency would survive.

 

The next day began normal. The triplets stopping by his office to have lunch. When he stepped out to take a call that was when things began to go downhill.

When Nick went to swipe his access card to reenter his office, the light on the access pad turned red.

“Who dares disturb The Great and Powerful Oz?” a voice bellowed.

Nick turned a raised eyebrow on his secretary.

“Would you like to request an audience with Oz the great and powerful?” She asked easily.

“Excuse me?” Nick demanded.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what they tell me to.” Agent Clark returned.

Nick sighed feeling a migraine coming along. “Yes I would like to request an audience.” He conceded.

She nodded before handing him a tablet. He was about to question her, when the girls appeared on the screen.

“You rang?” Ana giggled.

“What have you done?” He questioned.

“Well we started out just planting something into the database, but I think we hid it too well because you guys never triggered it!” Ana shrieked.

“So we activated it ourselves.” Alex finished.

“What exactly did you activate?” Nick questioned.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Chryssy said before the screen went blank.

Nick wanted to break something.

“As far as I can see it’s pretty harmless. The girls explained my roll, also if any emergency should arise everything will return to normal. Also I can still screen all your calls and have them sent directly to your earpiece.” She explained.

“Well it’s not like I have a choice, have Coulson get the tech guys on overriding this!” Nick ordered.

“Actually Sir, Agent Coulson is currently stuck in the elevator.” She said holding back laughter.

Nick’s head dropped. “Patch me through.”

********************

Coulson swiped his I.D. badge once the elevator doors closed behind him. Immediately bubbly music began to play in the elevator, the display screen beside the doors lit up colorfully as the words “Sing It!” Danced across the screen.

“What the?” he questioned poking the button for the tenth floor.

Immediately a countdown began starting from three. When the countdown hit 0 the melody to Kesha’s ‘We are Who we are’ began to play. Just as the words to the song slid across the bottom of the screen, his earpiece beeped alerting him to a call.

“Coulson.” He greeted.

“What have you done?” Nick questioned

Immediately Coulson remembered the conversation he’d had with the triplets yesterday.

“I didn’t thing they-” Coulson began only to cut off.

“That’s right you didn’t think! Get up here and fix this. Now!” Nick ordered, before disconnecting the call.

Coulson sighed before turning back to the screen that seemed to have been paused.

“Would you like to continue?” A yellow cartoon bunny rabbit asked.

Begrudgingly Coulson jabbed the offered "yes" button on the screen the countdown beginning again, and Pop music filling the elevator.

With a huff Coulson began to speak the lyrics on the screen.

“Hot and dangerous” he began stoically only to cut off when the yellow rabbit reappeared on the screen this time with tears in its eyes.

“You can do better than that!” it taunted.

Coulson wiped a hand down his face in exasperation as the song restarted, this was turning out to be a long day.

In their Uncles office the girls giggled madly at the Agent stuck in the singing elevator, one of Ana’s ideas. A loud beep cut off Alex’s giggles only for her to squeal excitedly.

“Someone activated Simon!” She giggled before bringing up the feed.

They watched as said Agent waved his access card in front of the sensor.

“Simon Classic!” The scanner wailed before one of the Keys lit up along with a tone sound before going silent.

Confused the Agent pushed the previously lit up key. In response the same key lit up with the same tone, followed by another key and a different tone. The agent looked around confused before following the sequence. On the fifth sequence the Agent hit a wrong key causing the rest to light up red along with dramatic music alerting the agent to his failure before going silent. The agent made a disgruntled noise before he swiped his key card, repeating the process all over again.

“He may be there for a while.” Ana announced with a grimace. The three checked the different feeds as floor after floor Agents encountered their pranks. One floor wailing “The FlOOR IS LAVA” the lights illuminating a specific path to follow on the tiled floor, towards different destinations. The girls continued to watch as the Agents tried their best to go about their normal day whilst maneuvering the different task. Though Clint did seem to being enjoying the Dance, Dance Revolution Elevator. Agents could be seen going to that one specifically allowing him to be their designated Elevator Operator. An hour later Jarvis’ voice trilled from Alex’s watch.

“Agent Romanov is on the line.” He informed them.

She quickly pulled out her phone. “Hello.” Greeted the Russian accented male voice over.

“I’m sending you a copy of the reports on Tony Stark’s recent behavior. He’s currently preparing for his birthday party. I believe he’s having second thoughts, but it looks to me like he’ll go through with it.”

“That’s right! We still have to send him his gift!” Chryssy whispered.

“Very well thank you Ms. Romanov.” Alex returned before hanging up.

“Looks like we’ll have to cut the fun short.” Ana said with a pout.

“Jarvis did you get a recording of everything?” Alex queried.

“Of course.” Jarvis confirmed.

“Oh good I did not want to miss Agent Coulson trying to sing his way up twenty floors.” Ana giggled.

“The three agents he recruited did sound pretty good together.” Chryssy piped, the two nodding in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh how i love when the girls cause trouble. I'm not sure if Bruce is the Hulk yet.. logically he isn't but timeline wise he should be. maybe not? and yeah Nick doesn't know the girls are Mutants! Even though the girls don't really try to hide it. well until now that is.


	23. Are You There God, It's Me Nick Fury!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray for two chapters I am on a role....

Nick stood in the I.T. department as his Agents typed furiously at keyboards, trying to reverse what his nieces had done to shields system. When his earpiece beeped he stepped away from the agent he’d been monitoring.

“Fury.” He greeted.

“Hey Uncle Nick!” Ana greeted.

“What can I do for the great and powerful OZ?” he questioned.

“Oh yeah...” Ana giggled sheepishly. “Has your team made any progress?” she asked.

“Actually Agent Wrightson here is breaking through one of your viruses.” Nick announced smugly.

Ana hummed thoughtfully. “No he’s not, he’s about to trigg-” She cut off when the ‘My little Pony’ theme song began to sing from said Agent's computer. “A Trojan Horse.” She finished with a giggle.

Nicks frustration was audible at the moment before he reeled it back in.

“Can I help you with something?” He managed to ask.

“Yup! We’re going to fix everything, we need your help with Papa!” She explained.

“How soon will you be fixing everyth-“ he cut off as the music stopped.

“Now.” Ana said easily before hanging up.

Nick looked around the room at his confused Agents. “As you were.” He ordered before leaving the room. Back in his office he read through Natasha’s reports before watching a live feed of Tony’s drunken antics at his house party that someone had posted online. The girls sat on the floor working on a project after some urging from Nick. He cut the feed with a loud sigh, catching the girls’ attention.

“We’ll be heading out tonight.” Nick said into his earpiece.

“Great we’ll go pack!” Ana announced.

“We, as in Agent Coulson and I.” Nick corrected.

“But the cure!” Alex began.

“I’ll take it with me.” Nick told her.

“But what about his birthday present?” Chryssy questioned.

“I can take it to him.” Nick offered.

Chryssy shook her head. “We want to give it to him.” She whined.

“Look you’ll see him soon just not yet. Okay?” he announced.

Chryssy nodded before slouching into her chair.

“You three will stay under Agent Barton’s watch while I’m away. I should be back tomorrow evening.” he finished

 As he stood to leave Ana pulled a small box from her back pack.

“Can you give this to the Black Widow?” she asked.

“What is it?” he questioned unsure.

“Just a thank you gift. We made it ourselves!” Ana told him.

“I guess so.” He agreed slipping the box into an inside pocket of his leather duster. “You three behave.” He ordered before motioning them out of the room towards the waiting Agent Coulson.

When the four got into the elevator Coulson cleared his throat.

“I believe I owe you three an apology.” He began. “I didn’t mean to offend the three of you, but knowing that I have, I do apologize.” He explained sincerely.

“We forgive you.” They chorused.

“Our genius can be a bit overwhelming.” Ana told him earnestly, making the Agent choke on a laugh.

Agent Barton intercepted them on a lower level, offering to take them to one of the training rooms. Sullenly the girls agreed.

“Hey why so glum? You three just pulled off the prank of the year!” Clint boasted. “Wait is that why you’re upset? Did you three get in trouble?”

“You can’t prove anything and neither could they.” Ana interjected.

“Don’t even try that.” Clint said with a chuckle. “But seriously what’s wrong?” he questioned.

“We don’t really want to talk about it.” Chryssy murmured.

“That’s fair. Though there’s nothing better than watching agents get their as- butts, I said butts, handed to them.” Clint tempted pushing open the viewing doors to another training room. This one was set up with bleacher like chairs but with padded backing. The viewing window was made of glass, unlike the one way mirrors of the other rooms.  

The four took seats as two agents stepped onto the mat, long wooden sticks in hand.

“They’re called Bo Staves.” Clint explained. The three listened intently even though they'd already known. Oksana had a wide range of weapons they’d stumbled across in her room. Throwing knives, shurikens, as well as a few Bo staves. They’d never seen them again after the incident but the woman had explained what each one was after they promised not to go looking for them.

*************

His head was pounding, oh God what happened? Where was he? That was too much thought process for a hangover of this degree.

“Jarvis protocol seven.” Tony whispered.

In co-ordinance with Morning after protocol, Jarvis remained silent as to not make Sir's headache worse. The A.I. took control of the suit, flying them to the best Coffee spot in town.

Tony doesn’t really remember downing the coffee, or ordering the box of donuts. But there he sat in the Iron man suit situated inside of a giant Donut. Sunglasses adorned his face as bits in pieces of last night came back to him. His birthday party was a disaster, or a success depending on who you asked. Using the suit to blow up things in front of his guest? Awesome, but not practical he thought around a bite of his Donut. He thought back to the fight with Rhodey, who’d managed to get away with one of his Iron Man suits. He remembered Pepper shouting at him after everyone had left. About his life, about her being there for him, and how he needed to think about his kids. Tony new he’d messed up, but he was dying! He hoped Pepper and the guys would look after the girls when it was all said and done. He knew they’d keep them a secret until they were ready, if they ever wanted to be.

“Too much thinking” Tony grumbled shoving another donut into his mouth. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the Donut before an annoyingly familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Sir! I’m going to need you to exit the Donut.” Nick Fury called.

Tony glanced down at the man who had a familiar looking agent behind him ordering other agents to “secure the area.”

“Oh great the fun police have arrived. You’ll have to get your own Donuts though. I’m not sharing!” Tony taunted, before reaching for another Donut. Glancing down he realized he was out. Tony let out a long groan before flying down to meet the agent.

“Mr. Stark I Presume?” Nick greeted.

Tony’s sunglasses masked his surprise before his addled brain caught up with him.

“The man, the myth, the legend.” Tony greeted. “Look I’m all out of donuts, I swear.” Tony cautioned.

Nick motioned him inside the empty shop pointing to a booth,

“Look I told you I don’t want to join your super-secret boy band.” Tony teased, once they were seated.

“No, no! I remember. You do everything yourself.” Nick played along. But Tony could see the anger boiling behind his eye. “How’s that working out for you?”

“It’s, It” Tony sputtered. “I’m sorry.” Tony said teasingly but hoping Nick saw the truth behind it. “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye? I’m a bit hungover. I’m not even sure you’re real” Tony finished.

Nick glared. “I am very real. I’m the realest person you’re ever gonna meet.”

“Just my luck!” Tony groaned. “Where’s the Staff here?” Tony questioned looking longingly at the Donuts behind the glass.

Nick ignored him. “That’s not looking so good.” He said instead, eyeing the growing veins on his neck.

“I’ve been worse.” Tony insisted.

“We’ve secured the perimeter.” Said a voice that made Tony freeze. “But I don’t think we should hold it for much longer.” Natalie announced stopping beside Tony’s end of the Booth.

“You’re f-fired.” Tony managed to say through his surprise.

“That’s not up to you.” She returned with a catlike smile, moving to sit beside Nick.

“Tony I want you to meet Agent Romanoff.” Fury introduced, like the woman hadn’t been playing spy in his life for the last two weeks.

“Hi.” He greeted accusingly, sending a glare at Nick who held up a barely noticeable, placating hand.

“I’m a S.H.E.I.L.D. shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury.” She explained motioning to the offender.

“I suggest you both apologize.” Tony quipped. 

Nick interjected. “You’ve been very busy. You made your girl your CEO, you’re giving away all you stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit? Now if I didn’t know better...”

“You don’t know better!” Tony cut him off. “I didn’t give it to him. He took it!” Tony declared.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit?” Nick taunted.

“Well, according to Mr. Stark’s database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage.” Natali- was that even her real name? Tony thought to himself even as his mind told him he’d disabled that protocol for Rhodey specifically. He’d made that suit specifically for him.

Tony let out a sigh. “What do you want from me?” He questioned.

“What do we want from you?” Nick questioned. “No! What do you want from me?” He returned “You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with. Hit him.” He finished.

Tony flinched at his words. The super-secret agency was going to knock him out. How could Nick do this? Would he ever see the girls again? Pepper? The kitte-.

“Ouch!” Tony shouted as Nata- Agent Romanoff, his mind corrected, forcefully checked over him. Tony panicked. “Oh God! Are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?” he rambled realizing he was still conscious. Internally he was cautiously relieved. Externally? “Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds!” he demanded. “What did she just do to me?”

“What did _We_ just do for you?” Nick insisted pointedly.

Tony did not like the way he said that.

“That’s lithium Dioxide. It’s going to take the edge off. We’re trying to get you back to work.” Nick explained.

Tony could feel it working through his body. Relieved he said. “Give me a couple of boxes of that, I’ll be right as rain.”

“It’s not a cure.” Nick said not unkindly. “It just abates the symptoms. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy fix.”

“Trust me I know. I’m good at this stuff. I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement for the palladium. I’ve tried different combinations, every permutation of every known element!” Tony babbled.

“Well, I’m here to tell you, you haven’t tried them all.” Nick informed. Before he could continue the familiar agent from before interrupted at the door.

“Sir.” The agent said with a nod.

Nick sighed. “We’ll meet you back at your place.” He said leaving no room for argument.

Tony sighed, before following the three out of the shop. “Fine just don’t touch anything!” he warned before taking off.

Nick turned to Agent Romanoff beside him. “I need you to go back to S.I. That took all of your lunch break, Pepper will be expecting you.”

Nodding she turned to leave only to be stopped by Nick. She turned back with a questioning look.

“This was left at the office, addressed to you.” He said handing her a small package labeled with her name but no address or return label. With that he turned and left leaving Natasha staring down at the package.

It could be trouble she thought, but she reminded herself S.H.I.E.L.D. would have checked it first. Package in hand she made her way to her black Toyota Camry, parked a few blocks down in an alley away from cameras. Inside she changed back into her work clothes. Folding the catsuit and placing it into the go-bag she kept with her. Reapplying makeup, her eyes shifted to the package in her glovebox, ignoring it she pulled out of the alley and made her way back to the Stark Industries facility.

Parked in the Employee lot her eyes drifted over to the glovebox. Checking that she still had a few minutes, she let curiosity win. Pulling out the package she gently opened it, not fully trusting what was inside. When a black leather box was revealed she paused momentarily before pulling it out. Tossing the packaging it came in to the side, a neatly folded ivory piece of paper fell out. She carefully unfolded it before reading the note inside.

_Dear Ms. Romanoff,_

_Thank you for your cooperation._

All that paper for two lines? She sighed before picking back up the leather box. It looked like it could hold an expensive charm bracelet.  Opening it she was proved wrong when she saw two small black square boxes with her Black Widow symbol etched into them. She turned them over to see clip attachments on the back, as if they were made to hook onto a belt. Thoroughly confused she noticed yet another slip of paper. This one at least offered a description.

_“Widow Bites, a T3 production.  To release push up once on the bottom of the encasing._

  * _Double click the center of the disk and slide towards opponent for electrocution._
  * _Click once and slide towards opponent for a smoke screen._



_Widow Bites come in a convenient encasement to add to utility belts. Hook one box on each hip for easy access.”_ The note read

Natasha nodded thoughtfully before placing the box into her purse checking the time. She put on her ‘Natalie’ exterior, before exiting the car.

***********

As Rhodey flew to base he began to feel a little bad about what transpired last night. Swearing to himself that he’d keep the arc reactor technology safe. Landing at a base, he was greeted with cheers and smiles from the soldiers. He had to remind himself this wasn’t a betrayal. He wouldn’t let the suit fall into the wrong hands. He’d be strict about the suits usage, he’d be helping his brother. Tony wouldn’t have just let him take the suit anyhow.

************

Back at the Malibu mansion Tony maneuvered around the debris heading to his room. Showering he changed into clean clothes, throwing on a leopard print robe for dramatic effect. Heading down stairs he saw that the two agents had let themselves into his home.

Nick seemed to have found an untouched part of his seating area to sit down at, motioning for him to have a seat.

“That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology.” Nick began.

“No, it was finished.” Tony corrected. “It has never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put in m-”

“No. Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race.” Nick boasted. “He was onto something big. Something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple A battery.”

“Just him? Or was Anton Vanko in on this too?” Tony questioned dubiously.

“Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin.” Nick announced solemnly. “Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When your father found out, he had him deported. When the Russians found out he couldn’t deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next twenty years in a vodka-fueled rage. Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in.” he said pointedly. “The son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco.”

Tony tried to ignore the jibe, choosing to go backwards. “You told me I hadn’t tried everything. What do you mean I haven’t tried everything? What haven’t I tried?” he questioned flummoxed.

“Howard said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started.” Nick said with a shrug.

“He said that?” Tony questioned.

“Are you that guy?” Nick taunted. “Are you? Cause if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart.”

Tony stood stepping towards the balcony to look at the view, beginning to doubt the shrill of hope he hadn’t realized Nick had ignited.

Nick followed suit moving to stand to the side of him.

“I don’t know where you get your information, but he wasn’t my biggest fan.” Tony said with a sigh. Remembering all the times Howard had expressed his disappoint in him.

“What do you remember about your dad?” Nick queried seriously.

“He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me!” he said bitterly. “So it’s a little tough for me to digest when you’re telling me he said the whole future was riding on me.” Tony began to pace. “No! I don’t get that. You’re talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school.” Tony heaved. Finally pausing to catch his breath.

“That’s not true.” Nick stated.

Tony froze before peering over his shoulder at Nick. “Well then you clearly knew my dad better than I did.” He said with shrug.

“As a matter of fact, I did. He was one of the founding members of S.H.E.I.L.D.” Nick announced.

Tony spun around surprised not for the first time today. “What?!” he shrieked.

“I got a two o’clock.” Nick dismissed.

Tony froze again. That was a code they’d come up with a few years ago. The girls were with him? Why weren’t they at school? “Wait, wait. Wait!” He called after him. Only to be intercepted by two agents carrying a large black chest. “What’s this?”

“Okay, you’re good, right?” Nick evaded.

“No, I’m not good!” Tony denied.

“You got this? Right? Right!” Nick said continuing his stride

How could one man be so infuriating? Wait, oh. He finally got the name. 

“Got what? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to get!” Tony said finally conceding.

“Natasha will remain a floater at Stark Industries with her cover intact.” Nick explained as the agent from before came to stand beside him.

God why couldn’t he remember his name.

“You remember Agent Coulson right?” Nick offered.

“Right!” Tony agreed with a snap. The agent from the Obadiah invasion.

“And Tony remember. I got my eye on you.” Nick said. “We’ve disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world. Good luck!” he called before finally leaving.

“Oh please!” he yelled after him.

Tony would have laughed if everything wasn’t so crazy. Turning to Agent Coulson Tony smirked, pulling on his infamous attitude like a second skin. “First thing, I need a little bodywork. I’ll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to The Coffee Bean, cross creek, for a Starbucks run or something like that. That’d be nice.”

The agent stopped him with a smirk of his own. “I’m not here for that. I’ve been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?”

Who was this guy? Tony wondered. “I think I got it, sure.”

“Enjoy your evening’s entertainment.” Coulson said with a nod.

***********

 Clint wasn’t sure how or why he was letting this happen. Curiosity maybe, but here he was at the edge of a mat where Chryssy, Ana and Alex stood in a circle there backs to each other surrounded by five of the training recruits. He remembered offering to show them a few moves. And then they had argued that they should try them on more than one opponent. So here he was circling the group as they stood in their defensive positions. The girls stood eerily calm in the middle their stances relaxed. His agents had smiles on their faces, the three girls were adorable standing in their pigtails. They’d changed into camouflaged shorts of varying colors with matching tops, and combat boots to finish off the look.

“All right guys, you’re attempting to take the girls. Offensive, you want to bring them in alive. Girls you’re surrounded and are trying to get away. Ready and go.”

The agents hovered a minute longer unsure of how to go about their ‘mission’ they were kids after all. Finally one stepped forward getting into character he said. “All right ladies you’re coming with us.” Before reaching to grab for Chryssy who happened to be the closest to him. When Ana’s foot slammed into his wrist he stepped back surprised. Clint too looked gob smacked. The shocked agents shook off their stupor before converging in on the three. What transpired next would be forever ingrained in Clint’s brain.

The recently kicked agent, who was still the closest, advanced forward again towards Chryssy who easily slid down between his legs. Her foot came up at the end slamming into his nether region, while Ana’s foot slammed into his throat once he’d dropped low enough for her to reach it. An agent came toward Alex who kicked her booted foot into his shin. When he was down to her level she jabbed two fingers into his eyes, causing him to jerk backwards. She quickly aimed a well-placed kick between his legs, leaving two agents down for the count. Sensing Ana beside her she cupped her hands, when her sisters foot was firmly planted there, she hoisted her into the air where Ana’s other foot made contact with an agent’s face. He fell to the ground with a shout of “My nose!” The agent seemed to decide he’d had enough and stayed down. Looking towards Chryssy they found she was sandwiched by two agents. Alex and Ana shot forward, sending hard kicks to the back of one of the agent’s legs. He fell to his knees with a shout of surprise. Seeing her chance Chryssy kicked the agent in his throat, leaving him gasping for air on the ground.  The three now stood together against the one agent who was having trouble believing what just went down in front of him. Refusing to give in he charged forward. Too late to change course he watched as Ana and Alex threw Chryssy towards him. Her little legs latched around his neck as she punched him square in nose. Two kicks to his stomach, provided by Ana and Alex made him careen forward, giving Chryssy the leverage and momentum she needed. The girl twisted backward into a hand stand, her legs still wrapped around his neck sent him tumbling into a somersault, leaving him sprawled out on the ground.

Chryssy stood easily, rejoining her sisters. They cheered happily before beaming smiles at Clint who was watching with wide eyes. He continued to gawk at them a minute later, before pulling himself together. “We’ll I’ll be damned.” He chuckled before breaking down into laughter.

“That was awesome! I thought maybe you’d give them a run for their money. But that was such a small sliver of hope. And then you guys just dominated. How did you three just dominate? What the hell guys?” He questioned.

“Our uncles taught us somethings, but our gymnastics teacher taught us most of it.” Ana chimed.

“Your gymnastics teacher?!” he questioned dubiously.

“She’s Russian.” Chryssy offered.

Clint looked thoughtful. “Those Russian women are scary.” He said aloud more to himself then anything, thinking of his own red headed partner.

The girls nodded along anyway.

“We’re kind of tired now.” Alex said through a yawn, making her sisters yawn in tandem.

Clint chuckled before taking them to their rooms. “If you need anything I’m down the hall.” He announced once they were all tucked in.

Before the three could fall into a deep sleep the emergency phone began to ring.

“I got it!” Chryssy yelled diving for the phone.

“Hello?” She greeted.

“Minion!” Tony returned.

“Papa! Oof” she cried as her sisters tackled her.

“Papa bear!” The two chorused.

“I was wondering where you two were!” he said with a chuckle

“Are you watching a movie?” Ana questioned trying to discern the background noise.

“Sort of. Just watching some old reels of my father.” He said stumbling over the last part.

“A movie about Grandpa? Why would you be watching that?” Chryssy asked.

“Boredom, maybe I was feeling nostalgic. I heard you three were at Nick’s. Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“Sorry it was kind of last minute. Xavier’s was attacked and we called Momma and then she called Uncle Nick, and he brought us to S.H.I.E.L.D.” She explained.

“Wait back up the school was attacked? Why didn’t you call me? Did anyone get hurt?” he asked.

“Not sure we weren’t there when it happened. We were at Culver University with Professor McCoy.” Ana reminded him.

“Right, I vaguely remember being asked about a field trip.” He announced. The girls stayed silent but he could hear yawning. “You three sound tired, are you getting enough sleep?” he questioned.

“Hmm oh yeah, we took down some agents. Oh papa, we played this huge prank on Uncle Nick you should have seen them scramble!” Chryssy giggled tiredly.

“Really? I hope you recorded it.” Tony asked hopefully.

“Of course we did, we’ll have Jarvis show it to you.” She said,idly hearing a beep as Jarvis complied.

“Okay, well I’ll let you go. I just wanted you three to know how much I love you.” Tony said.

“We love you more Papa bear!” The three chorused.

“Alright get some sleep.” He remarked before hanging up.

The three barely made it back to bed before passing out.

 

“Tony!” Howard called from the screen. Causing him to look up taken aback. He listened as the man proved Nick to be right. Damn.

He ranted to himself the whole way to S.I.

“I’m his greatest creation?” he questioned Jarvis, who dutifully listened.

“It would appear so sir.” Jarvis repeated, for Tony had asked the same question four times already. And like the other times he returned with.

“You’re damn right I was! But you don’t think he’d tell me that when he was alive?” Tony questioned. “Hang on J, we should probably get some kind of…” Tony trailed off.

“Apology gift? I think she’d appreciate it.” Jarvis offered.

“Me too. Hey this guy looks like an upstanding citizen!” Tony mused, pulling up towards the cart selling strawberries in the middle of the road.

“Sir I don-“

“Mute” Tony ordered as he stopped in front of the man. Silencing his radio along with Jarvis.

“Six dollars.” The man said offering Tony the fruit.

“I don’t have an- oh here!” Tony chimed, offering the man his Rolex.

“Sir that’s too much!” the man warned.

“It’s fine! Just put the strawberries on the seat. I don’t like people handing me things. Thanks.”  Tony explained.

“Are you Iron Man?” the vendor questioned.

“Sometimes.” Tony confided, before pulling back into traffic. A shout of “We believe in you!” echoing behind him.

Tony stepped into the lobby deciding to start things on the right foot, he approached the front desk. The woman behind it did a double take.

“Yeah it’s me. Look, Julia is it? I need to speak to Miss Potts” he explained, reading her name tag.

“I’m sorry sir, she asked not to be disturbed.” The woman told him.

So much for starting out on the right foot he thought before turning to walk towards the elevator.

“Sir! Mr. Stark! You can’t go up there!” She wailed behind him.

“My names on the building, I’m pretty sure I can.” He quipped overriding the elevator.

The woman gasped as the doors closed on her, running to call the secretary upstairs.

When Tony stepped out another woman stood waiting for him, he easily side stepped the female before marching towards Pepper’s office, the woman running to keep up with him

“Mr. Stark, Miss Potts is in the middle of a very important call. She gave us specific orde-”

“To keep me out! I know. But I need to talk with her, and this is the only place she’s at these days. Sooo” he trailed off as he reached the door.

“Sir!” the woman objected.

“Oh look the door’s open!” he piped, pushing it open.

“Miss Potts!” The woman called.

“Relax.” Tony muttered.

“Mr. Stark is here! He refuses to” she began.

“It’s fine thank you.” Pepper said cutting her off.

Once she exited Pepper turned a cold smile on Tony before holding up her index finger.

Tony looked around his previous office. Listening in as Pepper fought over the phone with someone about his stolen suit. He tried to interject but Pepper held up the finger again. Why was that so effective? Sighing he turned to the television but that was no better the reporter was discrediting Pepper on national TV.

Finally she put down the phone, and turned to him.

“You have thirty seconds.” She warned.

Forty seconds later….

It took him thirty seconds to dig his hole even deeper. Strawberries! How could he forget she was allergic to strawberries?  Pepper stormed from the room, and he watched as she walked away tailed by Happy! One of his best friends? To be fair Tony new the man was just trying to keep the peace in their small family. And then the last ten minutes he spent with Agent Romanoff who had appeared as if everything was normal. Have him removed? From his own company? Tony threw the berries in the trash, not before taking one for himself. Turning he looked over his “belongings” Pepper had mentioned, which consisted of the model of the Stark expo. Sitting up right against the wall it gave him a new angle. An angle he could work with.

Enveloped in his Iron Man suit, Tony was quite the sight as he carried the folded model that was twice his size out of the door. No one stopped him on his way out, so he strategically placed (dropped) it in his car before returning the suit into its suitcase.

Once he was situated in the lab he video called the girls. He wanted them to see this, and he could bounce ideas off of them.

“Papa?” Ana questioned tiredly.

“Hey AnaBear. Listen get your sisters up. How far can you three teleport now?” he questioned.

“Distance isn’t really the problem, we just have to have been to the place before.” Alex explained.

“That’s what I was thinking, can you come home for a few minutes?” he asked.

“You want us to sneak out of shield?” Chryssy questioned, now wide awake.

“Uhhh, yes?” he offered.

“Awesome!” the three chorused before jumping into action.

Ana followed Tony’s directions, placing the mass amount of pillows they’d requested under the covers to make it look like they were sleeping. Locking the deadbolt on the door the girls returned back to the screen.

“Jarvis?” Tony questioned.

“I have recordings ready of the girls if someone should stop by.” He offered.

“Perfect! Alright girls! Get over here!” he ordered.

It only took the girls a moment to appear in the lab.

“Papa!” The three shrieked, running to tackle the man.

Tony brought the girls in for the hug realizing how much he missed them. Tears threatened to fall and as he looked down, he saw that the three were already crying.

“Papa?” Chryssy sniffled.

“Yeah?” he questioned still not letting go.

“Can we come home?” She mumbled into his chest.

“Soon, okay. I’ll come and get you really soon.” He confirmed.

The three nodded, and after a few more minutes they finally released him.

“So what did you want to show us?” Ana asked puzzled.

“So remember I told you I was watching some of my dad’s old reels.” He asked.

“Yeah!” Chryssy confirmed as the three followed him to his desk.

“Well in one of them he was talking to me, like into the future.” He explained

“You mean like a time capsule?” Alex asked excitedly.

“Exactly like a time capsule! When did you get so smart” he joked.

“Just born with it I guess!” Ana giggled out.

“Okay, so he was telling me that he wanted to create something, but the resources weren’t available during that time. But now he believes we have them present day.” Tony finished elated.

“Great! So what is it?” Chryssy asked nodding excited.

“I’m not exactly sure.” Tony confessed, unsure of how the girls would react.

“Well what are we waiting for? We’ve got a mystery to solve!” Ana shrieked excitedly.

The three converged around the table top model of the Stark Expo.

“You think this has something to do with it?” Alex asked nodding her head thoughtfully.

“In the reel Howard said everything I needed was here.” He said motioning towards the model. “That it represented more than just people’s inventions.”

“Is there any way we can…” Ana trailed of making jazz hands at the model as if she were casting a spell. Fortunately Tony understood what she wanted.

“Jarvis could you kindly Vac-U-Form a digital wire frame? I need a manipulatable projection.” He explained.

The model slowly lit up from left to right in a blue luminescent glow.

“1974 Stark Expo model scan complete, Sir.” Jarvis announced.

The girls watched as Tony spun the model into an upright position.

Alex stepped forward after looking to her dad for confirmation, she picked up one of the smaller pavilions. The three stared in awe at the display.

“Wicked.” Chryssy chimed.

“How many buildings are there?” Alex questioned.

“Am I to include the Belgian waffle stands?” Jarvis questioned.

“They are my favorite.” Tony quipped. “Just show us.”

Immediately the buildings turned into diagram versions of themselves tiny descriptions of what they were beside them.

Tony pointed to the middle where the model of the earth sat in the center of the expo.

“Class is in session girls. What does that look like?” he questioned.

“It kind of looks like an Atom.” Chryssy offered.

“Exactly, meaning the nucleus would be?” he questioned.

“Right there!” Ana gasped using Tony’s arm to point at the part she couldn’t reach.

“Nice, nice. Highlight the unishpere.” He ordered.

“Can we move the foot paths?” Alex questioned.

“Jarvis get rid of them.” Tony ordered, the four continuing to work as one.

“What is it you four are trying to achieve?” Jarvis questioned.

“We’re discovering” Tony began

“Rediscovering.” Chryssy interrupted.

“Correction, rediscovering a new element.” Tony theorized.

“We think.” Ana added

“Lose the landscape.” Ana muttered.

“The shrubbery, the trees, parking lots, exits, entrances.” Tony detailed.

Chryssy pulled off one of the building squishing it down in her hand. Jarvis understood and made it into a tiny glowing sphere. She smiled in response before moving in front of Tony, looking up at him expectantly. He complied hoisting her up onto his hip, she reached forward placing the sphere on the earth model. Tony high fived her before sitting her back down on the ground.

“Jarvis, structure the protons and neutrons using the pavilions as a framework.”

“Papa?” Ana questioned.

“Dead for almost twenty years and still taking me to school” Tony mumbled to himself with a chuckle.

Jarvis began analyzing the component before stating. “The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for pa-”

“Mute!” Tony yelled. Looking wide eye at his daughters.

Chryssy nudged Alex forward, who rolled her eyes.

“We already know.” She mumbled.

“Sorry?” he asked

“We already know the palladium is hurting you papa.” Alex mumbled a little louder.

“I don’t know wha-” Tony began but decided better. “Who told you?” he asked.

“We overheard you talking a few months ago.” Ana explained.

“And you didn’t say anything.” Tony queried.

“Well neither did you!” Chryssy accused.

“Because I didn’t want to worry anyone!” Tony defended.

“Well everyone’s worried any way!” Alex told him.

“So why didn’t you just tell me you knew?” Tony questioned.

“We wanted to help?” Ana offered.

“You already are with this.” Tony said.

“Yeah and the Lithium dioxide seems to be working, you smell a little better.” Ana told him. Before gasping and covering her mouth.

“How do you three know about that?” he questioned suspiciously.

“Well… we made it!” Alex confessed.

“Wait what? That was you guys? Explain.” He ordered.

The three glanced at each other before looking over at Tony.

“Well once we found out you were dying we decided we couldn’t let that happen!” Chryssy started.

“Yeah because then technically we’d be orphans and we saw Annie Papa!” Ana shrieked.

“Right. And we didn’t really know how to go about finding a new element, so we thought we’d try to find a cure!” Alex explained.

“Yeah or something like a cure, anything to buy us more time really.” Ana said helpfully.

“But none of the combinations were working and you were getting into more and more trouble!” Chryssy said accusingly, making Tony grimace.

“Then we thought Lithium, if we could Coat the palladium it would slow down the corroding!” Alex told him.

“But then you’d need to-” Tony began.

“To oxidize it! Right that’s what Dr. Banner said, so we did it. But then we needed to test it.” Alex continued

“Please tell me you didn’t…” Tony begged.

“Of course not. Once we got to Uncle Nick we told him what we needed and his scientist tested it for us.” Ana explained.

“Yeah and then not Natalie stabbed me in the neck with a needle” he said, rubbing the side of his neck with a needle.

“She what?” The three shrieked.

Tony was reminded of their fear of needles too late, Ana looked ready to faint, and all three appeared paler than usual.

“Gently I mean. Barely felt a pinch!” he tried.

“Don’t describe it!” Alex shrieked, covering her ears.

“I wasn’t trying to!” Tony defended,

“Oh God I think I’m going to be sick.” Chryssy gagged.

“Oh God no! Finish telling me!” He urged.

“That’s it really. We wanted to bring it to you, but Uncle Nick promised he’d do it.” Ana explained from her laid out position on the ground.

Tony squatted down to their level. “You three did all that for me?” he questioned.

“Of course!” the three chimed.

Tony brought them in for another hug. “You three are amazing. And I love you more and more every day.” He confessed. The three returned the hug but before they could say anything Coulson’s voice echoed from above.

“Mr. Stark?” he called.

Tony stiffened, as he heard Coulson’s footsteps on the stairs.

“You three need to get back, I love you, and I promise you’ll be home soon!” Tony urged.

“But we don’t want to go!” Ana cried.

“Go? Psh, no! You have to pack, your stuff is still at shield. I’m sure you don’t want to leave everything there?” Tony prodded.

The three gasped, slowly disappearing.

“You promise you’ll come and get us?” Ana asked teary eyed.

“Nothing in the universe could keep me from you three.” Tony promised kissing her on the forehead, before she finally disappeared.

Tony turned around just as the agent entered the room.

“Mr. Stark? I thought I heard you talking to someone. You’re not supposed to contact the outside world.” Coulson tsked.

“Right because I’m Ariel, no humans got it! Though I didn’t peg you for the type to grow out a white beard, king Triton.” Tony snarked, moving to sit down at his desk.

Coulson’s piercing stare intensified.

“Just me talking to the bots, and Jarvis of course. You know sometimes I think they talk back, isn’t that right U.” he said questioning the closest robot, who responded with a series of whirs and clicks.

Coulson eyed him suspiciously a few more moments before going back upstairs.

“Sir, it seems that the element is impossible to synthesize”. Jarvis announced.

“Get ready for a major remodel, fellas. We’re back in hardware mode.” Tony announced, turning back to his desk. Reaching for his sledge hammer, he paused noticing a wrapped present that hadn’t been there before.

“Jarvis?” he questioned.

“The girls put it there when they first arrived.” Jarvis explained.

Tony hummed, unwrapping the gift and finding the birthday card.

“To the world’s greatest Dad!” It read.

Tony sat the card aside before opening the box. Inside was a tiny robot, no taller than a pencil. He flipped it over finding the on switch at the bottom. The bot let out a series of beeps. It rolled towards him nudging his out stretched finger with his tiny claw.

“F.A.R.G.O” it beeped out.

“Fargo?” Tony questioned.

“Fairly Animatronic Roving Gathering Operator” Jarvis supplied.

“It kind of looks like that robot from the Disney movie.” Tony announced.

“Wall-e. Yes the girls new how much you liked the robot, so they had me help them build a miniaturized version.” Jarvis explained.

Fargo began to organize his desk picking things up in his claw and placing it in the organizer beside his desk.

“Aww.” Tony cooed, watching the bot work. “Actually I’ll take that pen.” Tony chimed, cheering when the robot paused his movement before bringing it over to him.

Tony continued to watch the robot a second longer before beginning his “remodel”.

 

Tony was half way through the remodel, wires exposed, holes in the ceiling, when Coulson came down to the lab again.

“You slipped your leash.” Coulson accused.

“What? That was like two years ago!” Tony returned not looking up from his work.

Coulson began to walk around the lab when something with a white star on it caught his eye. His heart seemed to skip a beat.

“Oh that’s it!” Tony called.

“Do you know what this is?” Coulson questioned.

“It’s perfect, give it to me, and lift this.” Tony ordered.

Coulson obliged, staring in dismay as Tony used the relic to align his beam.

“I’m busy what do you want?” Tony questioned.

“Nothing. Goodbye.” Coulson said.

“Goodbye?” Tony drawled.

“I’ve been reassigned.” Coulson admitted.

“Well, are you going to make me drag it out of you? Or is it ‘classified’?” Tony questioned.

“Director Fury wants me in New Mexico.” He said.

“Fantastic, Land of Enchantment.” Tony returned.

“So I’m told.” Coulson dismissed.

“Secret stuff?” Tony questioned.

“Something like that.” Coulson smirked,

“Well good luck.” Tony said with a wave.

“Thanks.” Coulson said turning away. He paused half way to the door. “We need you.” He said earnestly.

“Yeah, more than you know.” Tony finished.

“Not that much!” Coulson called behind him.

With that Tony got back to work, he had a life to save.

 

When the girls got back they immediately embraced sleep. Sometime in the morning they woke to a knock at their door.

“Not it!” Ana and Chryssy chorused sleepily.

“Dang it!” Alex grumbled before climbing out of their shared bed.

“Who is it?” She called at the door.

“It’s me!” Clint called.

“I know a little fly, who has a big eye.” She started.

“He makes my brother cry, that iddie biddie fly. Can you open the door now I haven’t got long?” He grumbled.

At his words she threw open the door with a bang.

“What?” she shrieked.

“I’m being sent on a mission.” He explained.

After two loud thumps, Chryssy and Ana falling out of bed, the two were right beside Alex.

“But you can’t go!” Ana shrieked.

“You’re our only friend here!” Chryssy grumbled.

“I’m sorry ladies but duty calls. You three made this week awesome though.” He told them.

“You bet we did.” Alex announced, the three embracing the archer in a hug.

After a moment Clint released them, ruffling their bedheads as he stood.

“Stay out of trouble?” he challenged.

“Nope!” Chryssy said easily.

“Didn’t think so. See you troublemakers later.” He said with a salute.

The three returned it with tears brimming in their eyes.

The archer continued his trek down the hall and if he sniffled, no one could blame him.

When he rounded the corner the girls closed the door behind them, collapsing against it.

“We should probably start packing.” Chryssy reminded them.

As they were just finishing up there was another knock at the door.

“Not it!” Chryssy and Ana called again.

“Dang it!” Alex called climbing out of her position in the closet. “Who is it?”

“Agent Maria Hill.” A woman called.

“Who?” The triplets chorused.

“Agent Maria Hill!” She repeated.

“We heard you the first time!” Alex returned.

The woman released a loud sigh. “The Director sent me to bring you to him.”

“We didn’t get that message!” Alex called back. Just as she said it, the phone in the room began to ring.

“I’ll get it!” Chryssy yelled, running for the phone. “Who is it?” she greeted.

“It’s me. I sent Agent Hill to bring you three to me, let her in, please.” Nick announced.

“Well why didn’t you say so?” Chryssy giggled nodding at Alex, to open the door.

“I just, never mind. See you soon.” He dismissed before hanging up.

Maria stepped into the doorway. Looking around the room. “Going somewhere?” she questioned.

“We like to be prepared.” Alex returned.

“Are you three ready to go upstairs?” She questioned.

“We could use some help with our hair.” Chryssy prompted.

“Who’s been doing it while you were here?” she questioned.

“Agent Barton, he’s really good at it.” Ana announced.

Maria nodded in agreement. “Look girls I’m not really sur-”

“Please!” They begged.

The woman sighed. “It won’t be anything fancy.” She warned.

“That’s fine!” Ana agreed before grabbing their hair stuff.

When she finished the girls sported pigtails, the usually twisted braids hung in its natural curl down to their hips.

“Close enough!” Alex cheered, as the three followed the agent out the door.

“So where’s Agent Coulson?” Ana questioned

“He’s out on a mission.” Agent Hill said.

“The same mission as Agent Barton?” Chryssy queried.

“What do you know about Agent Barton’s mission?” The Agent returned.

“Maybe nothing. Maybe something.” Alex said with a shrug.

Agent Hill sent them a glance, the three smiled innocently back at her as they entered the elevator.

“Both of their missions are classified.” The Agent finally said.

“So they are on a mission together.” Ana surmised.

“I never said that.” Agent hill denied.

“But you didn’t say they weren’t either.” Alex pointed out.

“You three are a handful aren’t you?” Agent Hill said with a chuckle, causing the girls to giggle.

The four finally made it to their destination.

“Thank you, I’ll take it from here.” Nick said dismissing her.

“I don’t mind staying.” She said, unsure of why he wanted to see the three in the first place. The fact that they were in shield was suspicious enough, the fact that the Director wanted to meet with them, was making her on edge.

“I’ll call you when you can come get them.” The Director announced.

Agent Hill nodded, before taking her leave.

“So your father called, said he was coming to get you later today.” Nick began.

“He did?” Chryssy asked excitedly.

“He did, but as we were talking he got another call. When he came back on he said it may take him a minute, then the line disconnected.” He finished

“Jarvis?” Ana questioned.

“Greetings miss.” He said from the wrist watch.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I’m not at liberty to say.” He said after a beat of silence.

That caught Nick’s attention, grabbing his desk phone he called agent Romanoff.

“Sir?” she questioned, over the loud noise in the background.

“Status report.” He ordered.

“Pepper needed to supervise the Expo; Justin Hammer had a creation he wanted to present, an army of droids to aid the military. Stark came through in the iron man suit just as Hammer’s suits started to go haywire along with colonel Rhodes'. He’s currently leading them on a chase through the expo." She surmised.

Nick turned the chair away from the girls. “Do we know who’s behind this?” he asked.

“Working on it.” She answered.

“Keep me posted.” He dismissed before turning back to the girls.

“You know we can hear you right?” Ana questioned.

“Do you think he needs help?” Chryssy asked

“They can handle it.” Nick explained. “For now you three will stay here until your dad comes for you.” He announced.

The girls shared a look.

“I’m serious! Don’t make me put you on lock down.” He warned.

“Okay, okay.” Alex placated.

Nick eyed them warily while he pressed a button on his desk. Minutes later Agent Hill came back into the room.

“Girls.” She greeted.

The three nodded before following her out of the room.

“So what do you do around here?” Chryssy questioned.

“Whatever the director needs, today I’m stationed here, just keeping an eye on everybody.” She offered.

“So you’re like his eyes and ears?” Ana asked

“Sure.” Hill agreed, before going into a room.

“This is my office, you three ca-.” she cut off when her ear piece beeped. “Hill.” She chimed. As the person spoke she glanced down at the girls. “Be there in a second.” She dismissed, before looking back down at the girls.

“With me.” she decided before stalking from the room. After going down the elevator and going through numerous corridors, they arrived in an empty tech room. She tapped her earpiece, and after a minute Agent Romanoff came on the line.

“Hill. Vanko is behind the droid attack. I’m at Hammer Industries, but he’s gone. Just a bunch of dead guards, the computer he was using is still up. I’m trying to get through his programming but I’ll need a hand.” She explained.

“What do you need me to do?” she questioned.

“Do you read Russian?” Natasha asked.

“Russian? No.” Hill huffed.

“We do!” Ana whispered, jumping up and down excitedly.

The agent stared down at the girl torn.

“Hill? Are you there? These droids are tearing up the Expo.” Natasha urged. 

“I don’t, but I have someone here who does.” She returned with a sigh, putting the ear piece on speaker.

“Who am I speaking to?” Natasha questioned

The girls turned to Hill shaking their head frantically, miming that they couldn’t speak.

“Um, she can’t talk, she’s mute? It doesn’t matter she can hear you.” Hill offered.

“Fine, I need you to get into Hammer’s database.” Natasha explained.

The three sat around one computer, thirty fingers on one keyboard, flowing together as ten. Hill sat back amazed as the girls caught up to where Natasha was in the system.

“Here’s where the Russian comes in.” Natasha told them, the girls didn’t break stride. After ten more minutes, Natasha hummed contently “I can take it from here thanks.” She announced ending the call.

The three turned happily to the agent.

“How did you three do that?” she questioned.

The three only shrugged.

“Is that why you’re here?” she asked dubiously.

The girls looked up to her confused. “What do you mean?” Ana asked.

“Look you three are young and brilliant. I don’t know what the Director has in store for you, but starting you this young? That’s not something I’m okay with!” she announced standing. “In fact.” She said before storming from the room

The girls looked to each other before chasing after her. The woman got all the way to Nick’s door. She knocked twice, before entering when she was prompted to do so.

“Sir we need to talk.” She announced placing her hands on her hips.

Nick looked up from his work, “We do?” he questioned glancing at the girls who shrugged in response.

“Yes we do! I will not allow you to use these children. Children, Fury! For whatever plans you have.” She told him.

Nick sat back in his chair. “Are you finished?” he asked.

“No I am not finished. Where did you even find kids who can read Russian code? They’re barely five.” she asked.

“We’re four!” Chryssy chimed helpfully.

“Ana close the door?” he asked.

The child easily complied.

Nick stood from his chair before pressing a button on the side of his desk. Immediately the windows darkened, all the cameras monitoring the room were turned off.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but S.H.I.E.L.D does not use children. These however, are my nieces.” Nick explained, causing Maria to gape.

“I didn’t know you had any siblings.” She challenged.

“Classified. But they are my nieces, by blood. They come here sometimes when their parents need someone to watch them.” He finished.

“Is that true?” she questioned the girls.

The three nodded excitedly.

“Right we’ll good to know S.H.E.I.L.D still stands for what I thought it did.” She said casually, as the Director returned the room to normal.

“Good. Now it looks like you three will be leaving soon, your dad just called. So Hill if you wouldn’t mind escorting them to their room, and back?” he questioned.

“Sounds doable.” she said before escorting the girls out. “You three couldn’t tell me that before I barged in there like a crazy woman?” she questioned.

“It was classified.” Ana returned innocently.

********

Tony was exhausted. After the Hammeroid attack, courtesy of a not dead Ivan Vanko, he faced off with the man himself alongside Rhodey, and then if that wasn’t bad enough, each droid was rigged to blow up. Luckily whatever Agent Romanoff did to fix Rhodey’s suit kept it from blowing up with the other droids.  After leaving Pepper with Rhodey, he’d flown down to New York with Happy to pick up the girls. The tinted windows of the Rolls Royce as Happy drove him through New York keeping him concealed and allowing him to pick up them up himself. He was currently waiting in the secure garage under S.H.E.L.D. as Nick escorted the girls to him.

“Daddy!” the three shrieked running out of a nearby elevator.

“Minions!” he returned, catching the three in a group hug.

Happy came around the car pulling the three into a hug as Nick and Tony talked.

“I know your hiding something from me Tony.” Nick stated.

Tony sighed. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said.

“If it’s about the girls, I guess it’s best if I don’t know.” Nick explained.

“Wait, what?” Tony questioned.

“But if you need me?” Nick trailed off as he left for the elevator. “You three behave!” The director called behind him.

Once the girls were strapped in Happy returned to the driver’s seat. Tony was just about to get into the car when his phone rang.

“What now?” he mumbled. Noticing the caller ID he immediately picked up.

“Rogov! Just picked up the girls, we’re headed your way.” He greeted.

“Anthony something has happened to the kittens!” Oksana shrieked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Well, Well. I could say i won't take as long to come out with a new chapter... but ..... my imagination doesn't work on a schedule. i will try to be more timely? So What did you think?


	24. .The Invincible Iron Man!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay new chapter! Enjoy!

_“Rogov! Just picked up the girls, we’re headed your way.” He greeted._

_“Anthony something has happened to the kittens!” She rushed out frantically in broken English._

"Are they okay? Where are they?" He questioned.

"Well they're here, and they're not here." She told him

"You know I don't understand your Russia proverbs! Out with it!" He urged, truly getting worried.

"It looks like they were turned into children, I think around the triplet’s age. Invisible Jarvis show him!" Oksana ordered the A.I.

Tony checked his phone as it beeped an image of four sleeping toddlers in the triplet’s room. Three boys and one girl.

"What? How do you know it's them??" Tony sputtered.

"I'd know my kittens anywhere!!" She said in Russian.

"Papa is something wrong?" Alex asked from her buckled in seat.

"Not sure.” He said slightly turning towards her. “Look don't panic we'll be there soon." Tony placated before hanging up. "Happy we need to get to the mansion, now!" he ordered climbing into the Rolls Royce.

As they parked in the drive way the girls came running out of the car before Tony could stop them.

Throwing the door to the house open the three paused sniffing the air before taking off again.

Oksana stood in the hallway outside of the closed door to their room.

"Babulya!! They shrieked throwing themselves at the graying red head.

"My girls!" She cooed.

Chryssy broke off first. "Where are the kittens?" She asked confused.

"Well you see." the woman trailed off as the bedroom door opened and out stepped a curly haired little girl. She yawned rubbing at her eyes before wrapping Chryssy in a tight hug. She kissed each of their cheeks before going stand beside Oksana.

The girls stood there stunned.

"Why does she smell like Athena?" Ana questioned.

The little girl gave her a puzzled look.

"Because I am Athena." She said, cutely cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"What do you mean you're-" Alex cut off when three boys one after the other came stumbling out of the room.

"Ana you're back!" One of them said happily.

"Hades?" Ana questioned, stepping forward she sniffed the air.

"Oh my God why are you boys?" Ana shrieked.

The three boys looked at each other confused.

"We've always been boys silly" Poseidon said with a chuckle.

"No you were mountain lions." Alex reminded him.

"Well yeah we still are. These are just our human forms." Zeus told her.

"Could you always do that?" Chryssy asked suspiciously.

"Uh, no this is new." Poseidon offered.

 

Oksana watched with baited breath as she waited for Ana, Alex, and Chryssy’s reaction. She almost fell over when the three shrugged, grabbing the now human hands of the four and dragging them towards the stairs.

"We missed you guys so much!" Ana shrieked.

"Yeah and now you’re human! Let's eat and then we can go do stuff!" Chryssy finished.

When the seven reached the stairs they four suddenly stopped.

Alex looked to them confused.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to play with us?" She asked

"Of course! It's just the stairs. They seem a lot bigger now." Hades explained

Ana nodded thoughtfully. "You guys had the same problem when you were cubs too."

"Oh well! We'll just have to carry you!" Alex said.

“How? We're the same size!" Poseidon protested.

"Piggy back ride!" Chryssy cheered.

“Oh." The Three chorused.

"Race you down!" Athena called sliding down the railing.

The six looked at her stunned.

"Cheater!" they yelled, before rushing to get on the railing.

Tony chose that moment to enter, seven shouts of “Papa!" Gave him pause before he rushed forward to attempt to catch his children at the bottom.  At three his arms were full, quickly seeing his conundrum Athena, Alex, and Poseidon dropped from his arms. With four more coming at him Tony made a split decision and braced himself, the five landing with a thump on the landing.

The room echoed with their laughter. Athena, Poseidon and Alex rejoined the group. Tony took a moment to inspect the turned cubs.

"You know, you four look like you could be the girls’ siblings." Tony speculated.

"Yeah we based our human forms off of you, and by default them!" Athena said happily nuzzling his cheeks.

Tony's heart warmed at the implication.

"I can see that. Except your eyes. Those eyes are not mine." Tony said staring into the eerily familiar green eyes.

"Oh yeah and-" Hades cut off as Pepper entered through the door.

"Tony why did you make me stop and get clothes for boys with the description “get the girls some more clothes but for boys, but also for a girl.” Oh my, who’s this?" she asked, stopping in the archway.

Tony sat stunned as the green eyes connected.

"Oh my God you have Pepper’s eyes!" Tony gaped.

"Tony whose kids are these?” Pepper hissed.

"Welcome home Momma!" The seven kids shouted running to hug her. Pepper squatted down and immediately froze.

"Tony start talking now!" Pepper ordered.

“The cougars have human forms which are roughly if not the same age as the girls, they used me as their genetic model, smart choice I have a great jawline. Now they look like they could pass for the girls’ siblings, but then I was like green eyes how? And now I'm assuming they also used you." Tony rushed out. “Also a wise decision I might add. Your eyes with my jawline?” Tony added.

Pepper gaped at the kids. Not exactly sure how to react.

“I’m thinking pizza.” She concluded, sitting down with a huff on the couch.

Two days later the cougars returned back into their feline counterparts, reminding them they could only hold their human forms for so long. Babulya was elated, four more protege's to occasionally add to the girl’s classes, and she still got see the kittens. It was really a win, win.

                                                                                             ****************************************************

Tony and the girls stood in a clearing not too far from the mansion. Firmly in his Iron man suit he took a deep breath.

“Alright minions, give me your best shot.” He breathed.

“Papa I really don’t think this is a good idea!” Alex warned.

“Yeah the suit hardly stood up to that whiplash guy!” Ana agreed.

“How do you know about that?” he asked.

“It was on the news.” Chryssy said with a shrug.

“Okay, yeah fine. However since then Jarvis and I have made adjustments.” Tony returned. “Now, give it your all.” He ordered.

“How about just a little bit of our all. If it can handle more, we can just increase the output.” Alex offered smartly.

“Nope, sometimes you’ve got to run before you crawl!” he said.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Alex whined before holding her arms up skyward.

“Yeah, yeah, enough jibber jabber! Let’s start this light show!” Chryssy said mimicking her sisters hand movement.

“Hold on to your Iron Undies!” Ana giggled before lifting her arms,

Tony grimaced, watching as the sky darkened above them.

“Sir Maybe you should-” Jarvis began.

“Nope not you too J. The suit was vulnerable and that can’t happen again.” He told the A.I.

Jarvis seemed to sigh “Yes, however I believe Miss Alex was right, perhaps we shou-”

“Too late!” Tony yelled in triumph as thunder began to boom. On the third echo the sky crackled with lightning, before all at once it cracked down around him. He watched as the girls lit up with energy, there brown eyes shining blue.

In sync the girls lowered their arms, all three aimed directly at him. The thunder boomed once more, and the lightning raced towards him in a mass of electricity. And then everything went dark.

“Papa!” The girls yelled as Tony crumpled to the ground.

“No, Nononoono!” Alex hissed running towards him, her sisters on her heels. “Jarvis Emergency release!” she cried.

“Communication has been lost with the suit.” He responded worryingly from her wristwatch.

Chryssy dropped to her knees behind her. “We killed him. Oh god. Why!” she yelled in anguish, tears streaming down her face.

“Ana!” Alex yelled.

“Got it!” she confirmed before slapping Chryssy. ”Pull yourself together sestra!”

“Jarvis full body scan!” Alex ordered, pointing the wrist watch at her fallen father as a purple light shined out of it.

“Heart beat detected. A small concentrated amount of energy aimed directly at the arc reactor should restart the mainframe.” Jarvis complied.

With two fingers dancing with electricity Alex sent a small zap to the chest piece. It blinked twice before lighting up completely.

“Papa?” Alex called leaning over the face plate.

Tony came to with a gasp, the face plate receding just as his eyes flew open.

“Oh my goodness.” Alex breathed.

Chryssy continued to wail behind them, Ana giving up walked over.

“Well that went well.” She snarked.

Tony laid back down taking deep breaths.

“That, that was.” He fumbled.

“PAPA!” Chryssy cried before throwing herself down beside him. “I thought you died! “

“I’m sorry, that was a lot to take in.” He gasped.

Alex stood placing her hands on her hips. “I’ll say!”

“Just don’t tell your mom.” Tony ordered pointing accusingly at her.

“Miss Potts has already been contacted in ordinance with emergency protocols.” Jarvis announced.

“That’s just great.” Tony sighed. “J let me out of this thing.” He ordered.

The girls took a few steps back as Tony climbed out of the suit on his knees.

“Back to the drawing board?” Ana questioned.

“You three mind giving me a hand?” he asked.

Alex and a sniffling Chryssy put a hand on his shoulder while Ana touched the suit, the group disappearing and reappearing into the lab.

Tony flopped to the ground on impact. “I meant up! Could you help me stand up!” he huffed.

“Sorry.” The three shrugged.

Somewhere along the line Ana had found Chryssy a bag to breathe into as the child began to have a full blown panic attack. Alex sighed as she led the two out of the lab.

“Hey where’re you going?” Tony called once he’d managed to stand.

“Maybe next time you should try to ground the suit before you test how much energy it can store.” Ana called behind her. The two leading Chryssy to the kitchen.

“How about a pudding cup?” Alex asked rubbing her back.

Chryssy nodded frantically still breathing deeply into the bag.

“I’m Sorry!” Tony called after them.

“Shall I arrange for a family psychologist?” Jarvis questioned.

“Shut it.” Tony murmured.

Upstairs the girls sat at the table just as Pepper stormed into the house.

“Where is he?” She asked calmly.

“In his lair.” Alex said

Pepper paused in her stride to check over the girls.

“Are you three okay?” Pepper asked.

“I think one more pudding cup should do the trick.” Ana said from beside Chryssy. “Get her blood sugar up.” She explained.

“Right. Stay put, and I’ll open the ice cream.” Pepper announced before storming off.

“Deal!” The three chorused.

“Maybe next time we can start of-” Ana began.

“Uh uh. I don’t think I can do that again.” Chryssy huffed, a little teary eyed.

“Okay. Hey. Let’s leave the waterworks to Alex will ya?” Ana giggled.

“Yeah. Hey wait!” Alex squawked, making the two burst into giggles.

Tony chose that moment to enter the kitchen, with a knock on the wall. “Hey you three are looking better.”

The three returned to eating their pudding silently.

“Ok yeah. I deserve that. I should have listened.” Tony said, sitting down beside Chryssy.

“I guess I just haven’t seen you three in action, in a while. Because that? That was impressive.” Tony said. “We should find a way to calculate how strong that current was.”

Alex hid a smirk behind a bite of pudding before clearing her throat. When Tony looked over at her she sent a pointed look at Chryssy, before returning to her pudding cup.

With a sigh Tony looked down at her. She was currently stirring her pudding looking into it like it held the worlds answer. He gently picked her up before sitting her on the table so she was eye level with him. When she continued to look down Tony grabbed one of her shaking hands, praying that that wasn’t permanent. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you do that. It was wrong.

Chryssy bit down on her lip, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Ana and Alex quickly left the room joining pepper on the couch as the woman got her anger under control.

“Please look at me Chryssandra.” Tony begged.

Chryssy looked up at him with wide teary eyes. “I thought that I… That we. Oh papa!” She cried throwing herself in his arms.

“I know, I know. It won’t happen again.” He promised hugging her close. “I won’t make you guys test the suit for me, I’ll just find another way.”

“What? NO! I like helping. Just next time promise that you’ll be more careful when testing it. Like maybe don’t be in the suit when we send over five billion joules hurling at it?”

“I think you make a good point minion.” Tony chuckled.

With one last squeeze Chryssy wiggled out of his hold. “Now, I believe momma said something about ice cream!” Chryssy giggled running from the room

“Do I get ice cream?” he questioned.

“No!” Pepper returned. Coming in to grab four spoons and the ice cream out of the freezer.

“What? Why not?” he asked with a pout.

“Because the ice cream is for girls only.” She warned, the girls laughter echoing through the living room. “Besides you still need to look over paperwork for your new project.”

“What new Project?” The girls asked perking up.

Tony stepped into the living room picking up Alex to sit down with her in his lap.

She laughed clutching the ice cream container to her chest. “Oh that’s cooled.” She winced.

“Oh come on you can’t be serious?” He pleaded, trying to steal Ana’s spoon.

“What project?” Chryssy asked.

“Right, Well I’ve been working on building a new Stark industries facility. One with living arrangements, so I can work from home. And if you would share that ice cream I’ll let you have design input on your rooms there.” He bargained.

“Full reign!” Alex corrected holding the ice cream away from him.

Tony looked at the cookies and cream ice cream before looking at his girls.

“Oh fine, full reign, with my input.” He remedied.

Ana turned a raised eyebrow on him.

“Fine with Pepper’s input, give me the ice cream!” he pleaded.

Alex took one more spoonful before handing it over.

“And my input!” he rushed out, shoving a spoonful into his mouth.

“Hey!” Ana cried.

“First rule of business kid. Always get it in writing!” he said with a chuckle.

Ana glared before blowing a raspberry out at him.

“How long before it’s built?” Chryssy questioned.

“Well technically it’s already built, however now that we have this” Tony paused pointing to the Arc reactor situated in his chest. “I plan on powering it with clean energy.”

Ana perked up at this. “You mean like no pollution right, it’s good for the environment?”

Tony looked down at her in surprise. “Yeah how’d you?” he trailed off.

“It’s everyone’s business to take care of the earth. I’m down for anything that will reduce our carbon footprint!” She said dipping her spoon in for ice cream. Tony was still staring when she looked up, making her huff.

“Earth manipulation remember?” She returned.

Tony nodded in understanding.

“So how can we help?” Chryssy asked.

“Well first I need to find a place to put the access point for the power.” He began.

“Please tell me you're not going to add more power lines to those bulky utility poles?” Alex questioned making Pepper chuckle.

“Not anymore, I guess.” Tony said with a frown. “Well how else am I supposed to get power to the tower?” He challenged.

“Well the lines are already there?” Ana asked at Tony’s nod she continued. “Can’t you just cut the tower off from the main grid, then just put yours there.”

Alex and Chryssy looked up to Tony for confirmation.

He nodded thoughtfully. “I think something like that might work.”

“Good now pass the ice cream, its movie time!” Pepper chimed.

 

******************

“Sir you may want to check on the girls.” Jarvis informed him in the lab.

Tony was halfway up the stairs by the time the AI finished. “What am I walking into J?” Tony questioned.

“They were playing when they, and I quote, “began to feel like they were spinning.”

“All three of them?” Tony asked.

“Yes, something similar happened a few weeks ago.” Jarvis offered.

“And you didn’t say anything?” Tony complained.

“It was just before the attack at the expo Sir. I sent it in our weekly report on their well being.”

“Guess I missed that one.” He mumbled pushing open the door to their room.

Chryssy and Ana were just helping Alex off the floor when he came in.

“Is everything okay?” Tony fretted.

“I don’t know, the world kind of shifted.” Alex explained.

“Why does that keep happening?” Ana questioned.

“You think it has something to do with your earth connection?” Tony asked squatting down in front of them.

The three nodded.

“Jarvis, check the satellites for any, disturbances. Anomalies anything.” He commanded

Tony carried the three over to the bed before laying them down. A few minutes later Jarvis chimed back in.

“There was a disturbance in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico around the first time this happened.”

Tony paused thoughtfully. “The land of enchantment.”

“I believe so, yes.” Jarvis confirmed.

“Are you three feeling okay?” Tony queried.

“Yup!” Chryssy cheered, already over it.

“Okay, I’m gonna go make some calls. Monitor them, the whole nine yards.” Tony ordered before exiting the room.

“Sooo, whose turn is it to be the fairy godmother?” Ana asked

“Not it!” Chryssy and Alex chimed.

“Dang it.” Ana grumbled.

 

Tony waited while the phone rang, the recipient picking up on the third ring.

“Coulson.” The stoic agent greeted.

“Agent! How’s the weather in New Mexico?” he greeted.

“Mr. Stark? How did you get this number it’s a private line.” Coulson questioned.

“Not important. So Puente Antiguo?” Tony inquired.

“What do you know about it?” Coulson questioned.

“Not much just heard about a few atmospheric disturbances, though the locals were raving about some satellite that dropped from the sky. It looks like it was wiped from the internet though.” Tony remarked as he scrolled through the internet.

“Not wiped enough if you know about it.” Coulson returned

“You wound me, I’m not just some two bit hacker” Tony pointed out appalled.

“My apologies. I don’t have much on the situation, but S.H.I.E.L.D has everything under cont-  Have you built any new tech?” Coulson asked, his voice sounding a bit awed.

Tony could hear a bit of ruckus in the background and he strained to hear the agent.

“What? None that would be in New Mexico. Why?” replied.

“This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Coulson said before disconnecting the line.

Before he could dwell on it Jarvis interrupted.

“Sir the girls are experiencing another spell of vertigo.”

“Damn it!” Tony groaned running down the hall.

Tony threw open the door watching as the three held on to each other to stay upright.

“I think we’re getting the hang of this!” Alex said with a smile.

The statement contradicted by their eye blinking from the luminescent blue to brown.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Tony offered.

“Good idea.” Ana chimed before plopping onto the pink carpet, bringing her sisters with her.

“Oof” they groaned, rolling to lay down on their backs.

“I’ve been monitoring the satellite that picked up the disturbance and it appears to have happened again.” Jarvis explained

“Get me information on anything and everything happening in that area.” Tony barked.

Within the hour the girls had one more vertigo spell this one Tony was able to see. After, he kept a close eye on them through the night, though they made it through without incident. Around seven am Jarvis had a mass of information for him to go through.

“Lay it on me J.” Tony commanded with a yawn.

“An astrophysicist named Jane Foster has been traveling the U.S. searching for atmospheric anomalies. About a month ago she and her intern picked up on an Aurora Borealis in the desert of Puente Antiguo. Dr. Eric Selvig soon joined them in their search. Shield apprehended their research after the Satellite touched down which turned out to be a hammer of sorts., apparently a man came down with it, and the group was its first encounter. Yesterday, three more people dropped out of the sky soon followed by, and I quote “a giant fire breathing death robot.” The four battled it out before returning through what Dr. Foster calls an Einstein Rosenbridge.”

“Are you telling me that Aliens touched down in New Mexico, fought a robot and left, and No one’s talking about it?” Tony questioned,

“The town is very secluded and S.H.E.I.L.D.s involvement kept it under wraps.” Jarvis reminded him.

“Oh they’re good!” Tony hummed appreciatively.

“It seems to have all cleared up.” Jarvis offered.

“Yeah we’ll see,” he mumbled.

 

 

 

The girls were currently eating breakfast with Tony in the kitchen, joined by the cougars who were having a human day, as they’d taken to calling it. Alex was in the process of teaching Poseidon how to eat with a spoon. The other three had taken to it pretty quickly, but stubborn as he was, he wanted to eat it directly from the bowl. When he dropped the spoon for the third time Alex huffed before going back to her own soggy cereal. Pepper was doing paperwork in the living room with the news on as background noise. Ana twitched at something it said before hopping down from her seat.

“Momma can you replay that?” she asked.

Pepper nodded. “It’s a shame really, that poor man!”

Ana was quickly joined by her sisters as they watched in horror on the screen.

“The science experiment gone wrong.” The headline wrote.

“What happened?” Alex gasped.

“Well about a month ago some scientist was exposed to gamma radiation during a project, the end result is he now has a giant green alter ego. He seemed to have disappeared, but the news caught him in a fight in Harlem, and now it looks like he’s gone again.”

“They said a name, I heard it when I was in the kitchen.” Ana prompted.

When neither Tony nor Pepper could supply an answer, Jarvis spoke up.

“Dr. Robert Bruce Banner.” He chimed.

The three paled and Chryssy looked on the verge of another panic attack.

“Hey! What? What’s is going on?” Tony questioned squatting down to be eye level with the girls.

“Uncle Bruce! He was our friend!” Alex told him, clutching on to his shirt.

“How did you three meet him?” Tony questioned.

“When we went to Culver University with Dr. McCoy.” Alex supplied.

“You met Dr. Banner and didn’t tell me?” Tony gawked.

“It seems more than that. They call him “Uncle”, Tony.” Pepper reminded, biting back a grin.

“Does that make us-” Tony began with an odd lilt to his voice.

“You guys Focus! Uncle Bruce is in trouble!” Alex groaned. “We have to help him!”

“Help him? It looks like the big guys got that under control.” Tony broke in.

“Papa, look at him” Ana whined pointing to the Hulk on the TV

“Yeah he’s really impressive” Tony agreed.

“No! Papa he’s scared! Everybody’s shooting at him and, and” Chryssy huffed banging her tiny fist on the table. “It’s not fair!” she cried out.

“Okay, okay. We’ll see what I can do. I don’t think he’s going to trust anyone to help him though.” He offered.

“Then we’ll do it secretly!” Alex announced.

“I love it when she has a plan!” Chryssy giggled.

“What do you mean? How many plans has she had?” Tony questioned. “Why am I never included in her plans?” Tony whined to Pepper.

“Actually I kind of need you for this one.” She broke in with a smirk.

 

The group was situated in the lab, Alex had just finished laying out her idea.

“That might actually work minion.” Tony hummed.

“Of course it’ll work, now go ahead and do the call. Jarvis should already have the feeds up.” She coached.

“You just want me for my money.” Tony mocked.

“Well I already have your good looks.” Alex told him.

“Pepper my child is being witty! Do something!” Tony gasped.

“I think she got that from you too.” Pepper giggled.

“Mutiny!” he said with a pout.

Ana rolled her eyes. “Jarvis?”

“I have his location locked. He will be passing by the pay phones in approximately two minutes.” The A.I answered.

The girls had Jarvis use a simplified tracking algorithm to track Bruce’s movements from New York. It had caught up with him somewhere near the Texas border to Mexico.

“Places people! We’ve got a man to save!” Alex barked.

 

 

Bruce kept his head down as he walked down the street, trying not to draw attention to himself. Shifting his backpack he turned down a street passing a pay phone as he went. It rang just as he stepped in front of it but he paid it no mind. A block later he came across another one, and just like before it rang. He glanced at it but kept moving noticing this time how it abruptly cut off when it was clear he wasn’t going to turn around for it.

Weird. He thought.

It wasn’t for another two blocks that he came across another one, the phone ringing loud in the deserted streets. He paused but shook his head and kept moving. It abruptly cut off, making him look back at. He looked around before walking backwards towards the phone, immediately it began to ring again. He looked up and around trying to see if someone was watching him, but it didn’t seem like it. He quickly moved away from the phone again, and was left baffled when it stopped ringing.

“Okay this is getting crazy.” He groaned stepping towards the phone. So he’d been found. He really shouldn’t, but he yanked the phone up on its fourth ring.

“Look General Ross, I don’t want any trouble, please just leave me alone!” He begged.

“Guess again!” the voice said over the line.

“Who is this?” Bruce questioned confused.

“No important Brucey kins. But do not be alarmed, for I am going to help you.” The voice said.

“Help me? No one wants to help me.” Bruce mumbled into the phone. “What do you really want?”

Over the line Tony’s heart broke for the man. “Well I do. So here’s the plan. You’re going to the border? Don’t, Ross has men there just waiting to bring you in. No We’re gonna get you north and from their you can go where ever you think is best, just think of me as your support system. Tony explained.

“Is this some kind of setup?” Bruce questioned. “How’d you even find me?” he questioned.

“You’re holding it in your hand. What did you think Pay phones were for? Anyway head back to the train station. Give the name Alexander Pitts, and you’ll find yourself all the tickets you need to get to Canada.”

“I really shouldn’t be around people.” Bruce grumbled, scratching the back of his head.

“Look I know you’ve got it under wraps. And you can hold out to get somewhere safe. Don’t worry anymore, everything’s taken care of. I’ll be in touch.” He said before hanging up.

Bruce listened to the tone before hanging up. He thought he was getting good at this. Mexico seemed foolproof. But according to the anonymous person, he was no further from Ross than he was when he first started this. The thought alone was making his heart rate rise.

“No, breathe in Banner you got this.” His whispered. Breathing in deeply through his nose. When he’d gotten it under control he looked over at the payphone again, but it stayed silent. With a huff he pulled his baseball cap down lower and headed back the way he’d come.

The group watched as Bruce walked back the way he’d come and they seemed to let out a group sigh.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Alex gasped.

“What? You were so sure before?” Tony prodded.

“Well yeah the plan itself is flawless but, people can be unpredictable.” Alex reminded.

“Jarvis keep an eye on him. If any ABC agency gets to close, turn em in the wrong direction.” Ana ordered.

“He helped save you, ya know.” Chryssy told him.

“I do vaguely remember you three mentioning a Dr. Banner.” Tony nodded.

“Yeah. I mean he didn’t know what it was for, but he reminded us about the Oxidizing, and yeah. He’s a really nice guy Papa.” She mumbled holding her arms up. Tony easily pulled her onto his hip. Holding her tight as she curled around him.

“I know minion, I know.” He said. “Come on, it’s going to take him a while to get to good ol Canada. I thinks it’s time for us to work on something else.”

“Like what?” Alex asked confused.

“Jarvis and I re-calibrated the suit. We took your suggestion on making it shock proof, and now we’re working on directing it to the suits backup power reserves.”

Now outside the trio looked at each other, and Alex stepped forward.  The three had already lightning charged themselves and were practically bouncing off the walls trying to hold the power inside of them.

Alex reached out with one hand holding tight to control how much lightning escaped her. She started with one finger pushing little bits of it from her body at a time. The suit slowly began to light up with the electricity.

“Suit reserves at four percent capacity and climbing.” Jarvis monitored.

“Put it on the screen.” Tony ordered, watching as it climbed up to 50%.

Alex finally stopped with a gasp before smiling up at Tony.

“What?” he questioned.

“That’s all of mine. I’m tapped out!” She cheered “You did it!”

“Should we see how far it can go?” he asked.

She nodded happily before stepping out of the way.

“Bring it!” Tony called.

Chryssy’s hand started to shake and Alex quickly ran over.

“It’s okay! The suit can handle it.” She offered, taking her hand in her own, Chryssy calming considerably with the contact.

She and Ana held out their arms and sent the rest all at once.

Tony stumbled but stayed upright.

“Keep going.” Alex urged.

The suit lit up bright making Alex shield her eyes as the output increased.

When they finished they watched the suit drop to one knee, and they immediately rushed forward.

“Papa?” the yelled.

Jarvis’ voice chimed from the com. “Suit at one hundred and fifty percent capacity.”

“Papa?” Chryssy whispered.

“Oh wow I feel like I could run a mile in this thing.” Tony announced standing from his crouched down position.

The three giggled before heading back inside followed closely by their companions.

“Wait where are you going?” he called after them.

“Uncle Nick’s birthday is coming up and we promised him some awesome T3 product that we haven’t started on.” Ana returned.

Athena came to a stop beside him and he gently patted her head. “Come along minion!” he cheered heading towards the workshop.

The girls were knee deep in their think tank. They were supposed to have long since gone to bed, but between worrying about Bruce and not being able to think of the perfect gift the three were having a hard time falling asleep.

“What does the head secret spy of secret spies need?” Chryssy asked.

“Gadgets?” Ana piped up.

“But what kind of Gadgets?” Alex whined.

“If I may cut in, Dr. Banner is almost to the Canadian border.” Jarvis chimed.

The three bolted up right before hopping out of bed. They ran over to the wall before sliding open a panel that opened to the slide that led to the lab. They hadn’t used it in a while, with their ability to transport, but figured now was as good as any.

They squealed down the slide, plopping in to the pit at the bottom.

“Send help!” Ana wailed as they failed to get out.

Tony chuckled before pulling them out one by one.

“Come on Papa we’ve got work to do.” Chryssy commanded, marching to her lab chair.

Bruce stepped off the train unsure of what to do. He kept his head down as he walked, figuring the payphone was his best bet. He felt a little ridiculous standing in front of it, but before he could change his mind the phone rang. He hesitated a moment before picking it up.

“Hello?” he greeted.

“Hey you made it!” The voice cheered.

Bruce let out of sigh, this guy was clearly crazy. “You told me to, you know what this is crazy, I still don’t know who you are an-”

“Hey relax. I’ve got you. Listen there’s a locker I rented and everything you’ll need is inside. A new identity, cash, the whole nine. You just need to pick a destination, and you’ll be home free.” Tony explained.

Bruce stayed silent. “I don’t... Why are you doing this?” he sighed.

“Look Bruce. You got dealt a bad hand. Made questionable choices, but no one deserves what you’ve been through. You just, you seemed like you needed a friend.” Tony answered.

“Thank you.” Bruce whispered.

“Good now that that’s cleared up. Head to the ticket window tell her the name “Griffin Maxwell.” And she’ll give you the key for the locker. Get to Canada, buy a ticket somewhere anywhere. And just live. If you ever need anything, there’s a burner phone in that bag linked directly to me. If a British man answers don’t panic he’s also with me. Don’t hesitate okay?”

“Okay, and thank you again...” he trailed off.

“Don’t worry about that, just take care of yourself. There are people who want to make sure you’re doing okay.” Tony said before hanging up.

Bruce did as he was told. He made it to the locker and looked around before opening the door.

There was a back pack with a change of clothes in it. He quickly pulled them out before checking the rest of the bag. Passports, visas and then a black leather wallet. Inside was a license with his picture on it. The wallet held about seven hundred dollars and then there were the two debit cards. Sandwiched between them were two small pieces of paper with four numbers on them.

“Pin numbers?” he questioned out loud.

He changed clothes before throwing everything back into the bag. He found a debit machine and checked the accounts. His eyes bugging out at the amount of zeroes on them.

He let a strangled breath before pulling himself together.

“Time to disappear.” He sighed.

 

Tony looked over to the teary eyed girls when he heard a sniffle. “What’s wrong? It worked.”

“I’m gonna miss him.” Alex mumbled.

“Oh Minion, I’m sure you’ll see him again." Tony returned. “Now come on. It’s way passed your bedtime.”

“Can we sleep with you?’ Chryssy asked hopefully.

“Oh you’re actually asking now?” Tony chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKay Wooooo Bruce banner. it took me a while to figure out how I wanted my timeline to coincide with the MCU one. i think I've got it, but no promises. The cougar thing kind of got a way from me, so i decided to just leave it as a new thing they can do. I'm going to try and work them into the new chapters switching from cougar to human so we shall see how that works out. I think I've laid the framework for everything i want to do but we'll find out. Thanks for reading! I love feedback so comment your thoughts, questions, and concerns!


	25. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took a lot longer than I though it would, but here it is!   
> If you didn't know  
> Bold text means its a conversation through the mind link the triplets share.  
> There is a sort of flash back scene and it's in italics, but I also used them (Italics) for when speaking in another language. hopefully its a pretty smooth transition, if not let me know and I'll work on it!! Also please excuse any typos!! I am basically my own worse enemy...

Ana huffed, the air disturbing the loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail holders, beads of sweat decorating her hairline as she crawled through the stuffy vent.

**“We’ve been in these vents for hours! How long are we going to keep looking for something that we don’t even know about?”** She questioned through the bond.

**“Until we find whatever it is they’re keeping hidden!”** Chryssy hissed.

**“But that could take days!”** Ana whined, but continued her crawl through the vent.

**“Relax, it’s barely been thirty minutes.”** Alex reminded.

Ana could practically feel the eye roll, sent her way.

**“I’m just saying, we don’t even know what we’re looking for! All we have to go on is a conversation we overheard, and a file that was erased as soon as we got into it.”**

**“And that doesn’t bother you?”** Chryssy challenged.

**“Of course it bothers me! Why else would I be up here, I’m just saying we aren’t getting anywhere in this hunt. Maybe we should regroup?”** She offered.

After a minute of silence, she paused. **“Guys?”**

“I guess you’re right.” Alex said grudgingly from behind her.

Ana whipped her head around, banging it on the side of the vent for her troubles.

“Ow ow ow.” She whined clutching her head.

“Well what else can we do?” Chryssy asked appearing behind Alex.

“I’m fine thanks for asking.” Ana growled.

“Jarvis how’s your scan going?” Alex questioned.

“I didn’t find much.” Jarvis announced.

“But you found something!” Chryssy challenged

“Yes. There is a sanctioned off area where a room sized box is being contained. Outside of it there’s a back drop of apartment buildings.” He explained.

“Well it’s more than we found.” Chryssy grumbled.

“Where is it J?” Alex questioned.

“Down two levels in the east wing.”

“The East wing? Of course!” Ana groaned.

“It’s fine.” Alex huffed

“Fine? We’ve been in the wrong wing this entire time!” Ana whined.

“You’re the one that said all the important stuff is in the west wing.” Chryssy reminded.

 Ten minutes later and back on track the three peered through the vent cover. The “box” was in a large vaulted ceiling room, the box itself was situated in the middle, large enough to be its own room. Just as Jarvis had described a picturesque view of older looking apartment buildings was being displayed on a large screen.

“What do you think is in there?” Chryssy asked.

Alex narrowed her eyes. “Do you guys here that?”

The three went silent

“Is that a heartbeat?” Ana questioned.

“Whatever’s in there, it’s alive.” Chryssy announced

“I can hear a man talking too, it sounds like he’s describing a baseball game.” Ana added. “It’s kind of distorted, like he’s talking through a potato.”

“What’s with the screen though?” Alex wondered.

“It’s a method used to accommodate or trick someone into believing they are in a certain place.” Jarvis offered.

“What is Uncle Nick up too?" Ana pondered.

The sound of a door opening, had the three silently listening to the clicking of heels across the floor. Seconds later a red headed woman in a knee length pencil skirt came into view. They watched her open a door they hadn’t realized was there, and step into the room closing it as she went.

The three stayed silent trying to pick up on what the woman was saying.

“Morning! Or should I say afternoon?” The woman greeted.

“Where am I?” A deep, distinctly male, voice questioned. His voice hoarse as if he hadn’t used it in a while.

“You’re in a recovery room in New York City.” The female returned.

“Well she’s not wrong? But why not just let him see that?” Ana asked confused.

Alex and Chryssy quickly shushed her as the man began to respond.

“Where am I really?” He asked. His heart rate picking up.

“I don’t understand.” The woman said, not sounding confused at all.

“The Game, it’s from May 1941. I know cause I was there.” The man said.

The three gasped. “If he was there he must be really old!!” Chryssy announced.

“1941? He’d be like Grandma Peggy’s age!” Ana deduced.

“Grandma Peggy isn’t old!” Chryssy hissed back.

Alex shushed them both, trying to hear the woman’s response, though she didn’t get a chance to give one. The male’s voice cut off any explanation she might have offered.

“Now, I’m going to ask you again. Where am I?”

Her response went unheard, as the three watched two men in tactical gear approach the boxed room.

“Who are you?!” The male voice demanded.

They watched the two men enter the room, there was a beat of silence then the sound of a slight scuffle. Suddenly the wall facing them burst open as the agents came hurling through it, making the three jump in surprise. A man, who was Not Grandma Peggy’s age, emerged from the newly formed hole in the wall. Even from their high up position the three could see the blond man was huge as he hopped over the remaining wall effortlessly. He looked around at his surroundings in confusion, before running out of the door.

“Did they not lock it?” Ana questioned.

The woman came out after him struggling to get over the wall in her skirt.

“Captain Rogers! Wait!” She yelled after him. “All Agents! Code Thirteen.” She said into a walkie when it was clear he wasn’t going to stop.

Her voice projected throughout the building, and outside the room they could make out the sound of the agents responding.

With no vent cover for them to see the other side, the three huffed.

“Well that was…” Chryssy trailed off.

“Did that lady say Captain Rogers?” Alex questioned.

“Well now that everyone is scrambling, I think now would be a good time for us to go back.” Ana offered.

“Good idea.” A deep voice agreed.

The three screamed looking ahead.

Clint burst out laughing at the three as they clutched each other.

“Don’t do that!” Ana whined.

“Well if you three would stop sneaking away from your designated agents I wouldn’t have to.” he reminded.

“Well if they would just give us you, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Alex said with a shrug.

“I don’t belong to you three. I do have a job to do.” Clint said with a chuckle.

“Of course you don’t belong to us!” Chryssy huffed.

“Yeah, you’re just ours.” Ana said simply.

Clint laughed again. “Is that so?” he asked.

“Yep you’re our Uncle Clint.” Alex finalized as they followed him through the vents.

Clint climbed out first emerging in their original room before he helped the three out after him.

“And speaking of Jobs, when do we get to meet your partner?” Alex questioned.

“I don’t know that you will.” Clint said thoughtfully. “Not that I don’t want you to, it’s just when she’s not on missions with me she gets sent out on solo ones.”

Chryssy pouted. “But we want to know who you work with!”

“Yeah can she shoot arrows like you?” Ana questioned.

“Not as well as me, but if she had to use one she could.” Clint said.

The three had been playing this game ever since they’d found out Clint had a partner who went on missions with him occasionally. He’d only recently let it slip that she was a female, a fact the girls had yet to let go of.

“As long as we get invited to the wedding, everything will be okay!” Chryssy announced.

“Wedding?!” Clint choked. “We aren’t even dating!!??” Clint yelled.

“But you’re not opposing either of those things.” Ana surmised. “Alex write that down.”

“Interesting, very interesting.” Alex said thoughtfully, as she pulled a pen and a pad of paper from seemingly nowhere.

“Do not write that down! You three are crazy! You know that?” He questioned. He glanced down at the paper to find they’d already accumulated a list of traits for his possible partner.

 “Insane is it what I meant, give me that, what did you even write?” he asked skimming through the list. “Excels at hand to hand combat?” he asked. “How do you figure?”

“Well you’re an archer right?” Chryssy asked

“Right…” Clint agreed.

“Well if you’re using a bow you must be long distance usually, historically they are long distance weapons.” Chryssy began.

“And if you were in an up close fight it might get in the way when you needed to fight. Not saying that you couldn’t.” Ana added as it looked like Clint was going to argue differently.

“So we figure since you have a partner, you’d be the cover, while she went in. So that would mean she’d be good at getting out of situations. So she’d be a fighter.” Alex finished.

“Were we wrong?” Chryssy asked.

“You three, have no idea how right you are.” Clint groaned, though there was a hint of pride in his eyes. Making the three burst into giggles.

“So you do love her!” Alex said adding that to the notepad.

“What?!” Clint exclaimed, sending the girls into another laughing fit.

“Just make sure you explain why you’ll need three flower girls.” Ana said placatingly, just as the only door in the room opened.

“Thank you for finding them Agent Barton, I’ll be escorting the triplets elsewhere, the Director has new orders for you.” Agent Coulson announced.

Clint nodded tersely before turning back to the girls.

“I’ll see you three around.” He said, as the three engulfed him in a hug.

“Take care of yourself okay!” Ana sniffed.

“Always eat your breakfast!” Alex said seriously.

“If you’re not sure always choose heads.” Chryssy offered. At his confused look she clarified. “Statistically speaking even if it seems like you have a fifty-fifty chance, you’re actually more likely to get heads an-“

“Girls.” Agent Coulson chastised with a look, though it was clear the older agent was holding back a smile.

With one last hug the Agent left the three in the care of his mentor.

“Your car is waiting downstairs.” Coulson announced.

The three cheered happily before following him from the room, the earlier event momentarily forgotten.

The past month they’d all been staying at Stark mansion while Tony’s plans for the tower finally came to fruition. So the only trip they made was through the New York traffic. Happy occasionally honking and yelling at being cut off. Though more often than not, he was being honked at. By the time Happy pulled up to the front door night had fallen.

***************

The family sat around the dinner table as Tony doled out their plates of spaghetti.

“So girls, how was your day at the office?” he queried, silently laughing at the mental image.

“It was great, though there was this man, he said he had been to this baseball game, but get this Papa, he said he saw it May 1941?” Ana said through a mouthful of garlic bread.

Pepper looked up confused. “Chew your food.” She reminded. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You forgot to tell them what he looked like sestra.” Alex said, with a giggle.

“Oops. He wasn’t old! He looked younger than you papa!” Ana explained.

“But not as handsome?” Tony asked

The three giggled. “Of course not!” They chorused.

Pepper had paused eating. “If he didn’t look older than Tony, then he couldn’t have gone to that game.” Pepper said thoughtfully.

Tony snorted “Unless he’s a time traveler.”

Four forks simultaneously clanked against their plates, as the four Starks sent looks to each other across the table.

Pepper let out a heavy sigh. “No. finish your dinner.”

“But Momma! No one’s ever built a time machine!” Chryssy pleaded.

“Yeah, and it would only be a prototype, that is until we got it to actually work!” Alex explained.

“I said no, and that is going on the list.” Pepper said.

“Why do we even have that list?!” Tony huffed.

“Do the words, Fire extinguisher, county sheriff, and remote controlled ring a bell?” Oksana questioned, as she scooped another pile of spaghetti onto her plate.

“Fine. But what about the man?” Chryssy resumed.

“Tell me what happened, let’s see what we can figure out.” Tony offered.

The girls immediately jumped into detail about what they saw, Tony occasionally interjecting with questions.

“You said the backdrop was of old apartment buildings?” Tony asked

“Yeah it was, Jarvis said it was an old neighborhood in New York, like you’d see if you were looking out a window.” Alex offered.

“And you said the voice describing the baseball game was layered with static?” Tony questioned.

“Like it was recorded on a potato!” Ana said with a nod.

“Why a potato?” Oksana questioned,

The three shrugged. “Why else would it come out like that?” Ana questioned.

“Well if there was no one else in the room, and the man said it was a game from the forties, it was probably from a radio.” Tony said with a chuckle.

“I’ve heard the radio before Papa, it never sounded like that.” Ana defended

“I’m sorry minion, I meant an older radio” Tony remedied.

“Did you hear a name?” Pepper questioned.

The girls looked to each other, trying to remember.

“The lady called him, Captain something.” Ana stated.

“Captain Rogers!” Alex exclaimed.

Tony choked, before looking up at his daughter. “Common name. what did he look like, did his stature scream righteousness and justice?” Tony asked jokingly, though something in his eyes was searching.

“Um, well he had Blonde hair, and he had a lot of muscles!” Ana offered.

“Did you get his phone number?” Oksana questioned with a smirk.

The three looked at her confused as Pepper choked back a laugh.

“We barely got his name before he ran out of that room” Chryssy explained.

“What was he wearing?” Tony asked intently, though he was looking a little pale.

“Tony is everything okay?” Pepper asked.

“I’m Fine, sorry, do you remember what he was wearing.” Tony asked, a bit steadier.

Alex closed her eyes taking a minute to remember, trying to think past the surprise of when the agents went flying through the wall.

“Well, he had blond hair, he was tall and strong, we saw him throw two agents through a wall. And when he came out, he was wearing these tan pants and he had on a….. A white T-shirt, there was some kind of a symbol on it.” Alex said opening her eyes.

“Some kind of bird.” Ana added

“An eagle!” Chryssy confirmed.

“You mean like S.H.E.I.L.D’s?” Tony provided.

“Kind of! Same bird, but a different design.” Chryssy explained hesitantly.

“Tony what are you thinking?” Pepper questioned, she could see the gears turning in his mind.

“It’s kind of impossible.” He said through a chuckle.

“Nothing is impossible.” Oksana offered.

“Right. Well Rogers? That was Captain America’s last name. Steve Rogers, Dad was always going on and on about the guy who’d flown a plane into the arctic to save the world. Years and years he searched for him, I never knew if he was looking for a bod…” Tony trailed off when he glanced at the girls. But Oksana and Pepper caught on.

“But for him to have survived? That’s not possible?” Pepper prodded.

“With the serum? Who knows, it could have theoretically kept him alive all those years.” Tony shrugged, moving around the food on his plate.

Noticing his movements Pepper gripped his hand “I’m sure it’s nothing, how about you get the girls ready for bed and Oksana and I will get dessert ready?” Pepper offered.

Tony blinked away his thoughts before looking down at Pepper’s hand holding his. He squeezed it once before ushering the girls upstairs.

******************

Tony laid awake in bed that night, surrounded by the triplets and the four cougars, their breathing calm in the night.

Alex rolled closer to him her eyes blinking open. Seeing him awake she scooted closer.

“Are you okay Papa?” She whispered.

Tony gave her a sleepy grin his face illuminated by the arc reactor in his chest.

“I’ll be okay Minion.” He supplied

She leaned closer to kiss his cheek, settling her head in the crook of his arm. “You’ll always be my favorite superhero.” She said before closing her eyes.

Tony let out a heavy sigh, something easing in his chest allowing sleep to finally take over.

 

********************

The girls crept quietly into Tony's room. Awake far earlier than their father could ever be without being on a science bender. They’d been working on an alarm clock and decided that he would be the best Guinea pig.

Sitting the contraption down on the night table at the perfect angle the girls stood at the foot of the bed. Chryssy clutched a stopwatch, Ana a clipboard and a pen, and Alex a palm sized camcorder. When the clock struck nine am Chryssy started the timer. Seconds later the toaster shape alarm clock rang shrill in the previously silent room, the mechanics began to whir and finally a perfectly toasted waffle popped out. They watched as it went soaring from the toaster, smacking Tony in the face.

Ana released a thoughtful hum as she began to write on the clipboard.

Tony let out a groan peaking one eye open, only to realize it was being covered. He reached up for the offending object, realizing what it was he bit into it before sitting up.

"Why?" He asked between chewing.

Alex shrugged shutting the camera. "Product testing." She said simply before moving to grab the toaster alarm. The three leaving just as silently as they came in.

"Was it supposed to do that?" He called after them. He waited but didn’t receive an answer, glaring down at the waffle before finishing it.

"Good morning Sir, it is currently nine am, and the weather is cloudy with a chance of rain later." Jarvis announced primly.

Tony let out a tired chuckle before laying back down into his pillows.

 

The group spent the rest of the day at the tower, the girls finally getting to see the outcome of the previous months. Tony oversaw some of the final touches as Pepper gave them a tour of the top levels.

"The penthouse level is where we'll be staying, you each have the option of your own room if you should choose to?" Pepper questioned. 

The girls looked to each other with raised eyebrows. After a minute Alex shook her head. "Nah, we're good."

"I thought you'd say that. However the other two are still yours to decorate, so if you have any ideas let me know. The two levels below us, well I'm not exactly sure what your dad will do with, so we'll see. Below that is where his personal lab will be. And the lower levels are all R&D and tech.”

“Do we get a lab?” Ana asked, just as Tony stepped into the penthouse.

“I’ll let him answer that.” Pepper said with a smile.

“Let who answer what?” he questioned.

“Do we get our own lab?” Chryssy questioned.

Tony let out a gasp. “Are you three tired of sharing a space with your old man?”

The three giggled. “No, but sometimes you don’t let us inside.” Alex reminded.

“That was one time!” Tony bellowed.

“Well?” the three prodded.

“Yeah, you get your own Lab.” Tony grumbled. “But you have to promise not to become hermits, and to at least come and visit me twice a day.”

“We promise! So is it finished?” Chryssy asked.

“Everything’s finished really, there’s just the issue of electricity.” Tony explained. “By the end of the week this whole tower will be powered by arc reactor technology.”

 “Can we be there when you do it?” Alex asked.

“Where else would you be?” Tony asked with a smile.

**********

Later that night, the girls laid in their bed back at Stark mansion surrounded by Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon the six seemingly sleeping peacefully. Around three a.m. a frown began to mar each of the triplets' faces, and Alex jerked awake.

She let out a strangled gasp, visions of blue light temporarily blinding her. She rubbed hastily at her eyes trying to readjust them. Beside her Chryssy groaned and Ana clutched her pillow tighter her tiny knuckles turning white with the pressure.

“Chryssy, Ana?” she whispered into the darkness.

Chryssy only groaned louder, so she carefully crawled in between the two, a tight fit but she easily settled into it. She silently ran a hand through Chryssy’s hair her sister easing at the movement. Ana turned over, as if sensing her new location, before burying her face into Alex’s back, she let out a quiet sigh before returning to a peaceful sleep.

“Is everything okay Miss?” Jarvis questioned.

“I don’t know.” Alex whispered.

“Was it a nightmare?” he asked.

“I don’t think so, it kind of felt like before, when the world shifted a little. This time it felt like something tore through, there was this bright blue light, I could hardly see, it was so bright.”

“Shall I alert Sir?” Jarvis asked, his voice slightly tinged with worry.

“You can tell him tomorrow; I think I’m gonna…” She broke off into a yawn, her eyes closing of their own accord.

Jarvis made a note that would be waiting for Tony in the morning. Meanwhile he quickly ran a search of disturbances, a habit he’d picked up after the first time in New Mexico that the girls had felt. He hadn’t found anything since the last time it happened, but he had a feeling this time would be different.

**********

Tony was greeted the next morning by sunlight and Jarvis’ voice.

“Good morning sir, it is Saturday the time is eight thirty, and it is currently seventy degrees.”

“J I thought I was sleeping in today?”

“My apologies sir, your heart rate showed signs that you’d be waking up.”

Tony flopped back for a moment, tossing and turning to try and resume his sleeping.

“Great now I can’t get back to sleep.” Tony huffed.

“Very well Sir. I’ve made a note to tell you that Alex awoke from a fitful sleep last night around three o’clock. Chryssy and Ana showed the same signs however, Alex was able to coax them into remaining asleep. She told me it felt like something tore into the world, in a flash of blue light, and after further investigation I’ve found an atmospheric anomaly in the Mojave Desert, similar to the previous ones they experienced.”

“Are you telling me there is probably, as we speak, another alien on earth?” Tony groaned into his pillow.

Jarvis stayed silent.

“Fine we can check it out tomorrow.” Tony placated.

“There is no need, satellite video feeds show that the contact point is completely destroyed, it appeared to be a large facility that stretched miles and miles of the Mojave Desert.”

“Destroyed how?” he prodded

“It seems to have collapsed in on itself. The facility is nothing more than rubble.”

“What could have caused that much damage? keep digging J.”

“Very well, Sir.”

“Where are the girls?” he questioned.

“Currently with Madam Rogov.”

At that Tony walked to the wing of the mansion Oksana had taken refuge in, he was about to push the door to her room open when raised voices coming from the game room door behind him made him pause.

When the girls first started coming to the mansion he’d had a play room made to give them their own space, since then an impressive array of video and board games had turned the room into a comfortable entertainment room.

He nudged open the door to find Oksana coaching a battle of light sabers. Athena sat off to the side cheering for no one in particular, if her shouts were anything to go by.

“What is happening and why wasn’t I invited?” Tony questioned the room.

Everyone froze, except Ana who chose to take the killing blow, lodging her green light saber into Poseidon’s armpit. His cry of outrage, as he fell to the ground sent the room into a fit of laughter as he continued to “die” on the play room floor.

“I’m going to be honest Papa; I don’t actually remember how this happened.” Alex announced through a fit of giggles.

“I do!” Athena cheered. “Hades was all, do you guys think I can sneak up on Babulya? And I said, Hades do not sneak up on Babulya, and then he said, “I’m going to sneak up on Babulya.” and grabbed a light saber. Chryssy, Ana and Alex were in the hall and when they saw you sneak around the corner they disappeared, we found Babulya in here playing Mario Kart when you barged in and declared war on her. Then the girls reappeared blocking you and then Ana yelled “This ain’t what you want!” and then you charged. Poseidon and Zeus heard and came running in, saw what was happening and grabbed their own light sabers, somewhere along the way Babulya started giving out tips, but then it turned into coaching, and now Baby princess peach is in first place on Mario karts.”

Oksana whipped her head around at that before cuffing Hades on the back of his head. “You ruined my winning streak!” she hissed before returning to the game. Poseidon and Zeus quietly laughed at the stricken look on his face.

“Okay that was a lot, but okay. Has anyone eaten yet because I’m thinking pancakes.” Tony said before turning from the room leaving the seven kids to follow after him.

The rest of the week was spent shopping for clothes with Pepper, and training with Oksana. The woman elated to have four new students under her wing, finally giving her a class size she was used to. The boys grudgingly took to ballet but excelled at gymnastics. Athena preferred ballet, but took gymnastics along with the rest of them at her sisters’ urging. Oksana had a few competitions in mind she wanted to enter them into, if Tony was willing.

********

Saturday night Pepper, Oksana, the triplets and the cougars sat in the living room of the penthouse as Tony flew out to change the Towers Power grid.   

Pepper and Ana sat in front of a holo screen, Tony’s face projected as he flew out of the city.

Alex and Chryssy sat with in hearing distance in front of a real time display of the tower in the center of the table.

Jarvis switched the display screen so the girls could watch as Tony cut through a pipeline in the water, replacing it with the Stark energy reactor they’d been working on.  As he flew out of the water the screen showed his flight through the city.

“All right, It’s a go on this end.” He announced.

“He already disconnected the transition line, we are off the gird!” Alex cheered. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“Dreams do come true.” Chryssy grumbled, earning a nudge from her sister.

“Wow, so the Reactor should take over _if_ this actually works?” Pepper questioned.

“It will work! Light her up!” Tony urged as he turned the corner giving him a perfect view as the building lit up floor by floor. The words Stark Illuminated on the front of the Tower by a familiar glow that made him smile.

“It looks like Christmas!” Ana gasped, seeing the view from Tony’s HUD display.

“But with more me!” Tony added.

Pepper smiled. “We gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some tomorrow to get started!” Pepper began.

“Pep, you’re killing me. We talked about this! Enjoy the moment!” Tony said flying towards the landing pad he’d built on the penthouse level.

“Get in here and I will!” Pepper said with a smirk.

Tony could hear the collective groans through the feed as he landed. Before he could comment Jarvis’ voice cut in.

“Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line.”

“Tell him I’m not in, technically I’m out.” He joked, as he stepped on the pressure mat in the ground. Immediately machines whirred to life, an arch raising above his head as the suit began to disassemble around him, he continued his stride not missing a beat as he stepped into the living room in his regular clothes.

“Sir, I’m afraid he’s insisting.” Jarvis informed.

“Close the line J, I’ve got a date!” He said, as Ana came running over to him, He scooped her up before joining Pepper at the display table, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Levels are holding steady, I think.” she murmured.

“Of course they are, I was directly involved. Leaving me to ask, how does it feel to be a genius?” He asked.

“Well I wouldn’t really know now would I?” She returned.

“What do you mean? None of this would have been possible without you!” Tony said, meaning every word. Pepper had done so much for this cause, sure he did most of the engineering, but without Pepper it would have stayed on the back burner.

Pepper only scoffed at the comment.

“Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is like our newest child, give yourself twelve percent of the credit.”

Ana grimaced in his arms before wiggling out of his grip.

“Men.” Oksana crooned from her position on the couch.

“Twelve percent?” Pepper questioned, gob smacked.

“What? An argument can be made for fifteen.” He tried.

“Nice!” Alex huffed, dragging Chryssy from the table with her.

“Twelve percent of my baby?” Pepper repeated.

“Well I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally I lifted the heavy things. And sorry but the security snafu? That was on you.” Tony chided. “My private elevator.”

“Our elevator!” Chryssy reminded.

“Was teeming with sweaty workmen.” He paused “Looking around I see I’m out numbered and can tell I’m going to pay for that comment about percentages in a subtle way aren’t I?” he finally realized.

“Not gonna be that subtle.” Pepper corrected.

“Fine, next building’s gonna have “Potts” on it.” He tried again.

“On the lease!” Pepper corrected.

“Um, call your mom can you bunk over?” he joked

“Children!” Oksana chided making the triplets laugh.

“Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overwritten.” Jarvis announced sounding a bit put out.

Tony waited until the girls moved out from behind him before picking up his Phone. Coulson coming into view, his face business as usual.

“Stark, we need to talk.”

“You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message.” He began.

“This is urgent.” Coulson huffed.

“Then leave it urgently.”

Seven heads whipped to the elevator as their enhanced hearing picked up on the sound of the approaching elevator, Tony glanced over at the security feeds.

“Go!” he whispered in a panic.

The girls each laid a hand on the person closest to them before vanishing from the room. Leaving Pepper, and Tony just as the elevator dinged.

“Security breech!” Tony called as Coulson stepped off. “That’s on you!” he said to Pepper who rolled her eyes in response.

“Mr. Stark.” The agent greeted.

“Phil! Come in!” Pepper cut in.

“Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent!” Tony reminded.

“Come on in, we were celebrating!” she cheered, her smile only slightly forced, but it brightened as she made her way toward the agent.

“Which is _why_ he can’t stay!” Tony grumbled.

“We need you to look this over.” Phil announced holding out a black file for Tony to take.

“I don’t like to be handed things.” Tony chided.

“That’s okay, because I love to be handed things!” Pepper chuckled, taking the offered file before pushing it against Tony’s chest, forcing the man to catch it before it fell. “Thank you!” she said happily.

“Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.” Tony announced

“Is this about The Avengers?” Pepper questioned

When Phil gave her a look she smiled. “Which I know nothing about.”

Downstairs the girls rushed to the Screen in their room.

“Jarvis Hurry! We’re missing all the good stuff!” Ana cried.

The screen lit up as Tony, Pepper and Coulson came into view. Athena changed into her human form behind them, slipping into a onesie she found in one of the drawer’s, one of Ana’s if she smelled correctly.

“What’s he holding?” She questioned.

“A file Agent Coulson brought with him.” Chryssy explained.

“OH! Do you think this is about the Avengers?” Zeus questioned, pulling his night clothes out of a drawer.

“Definitely! Jarvis volume please?” Alex pleaded.

“Yeah apparently I’m volatile, self-obsessed, and don’t play well with others.” Tony was saying.

“That I did know.” Pepper conceded.

“This isn’t about personality profiles.” Phil drawled.

“Whatever. Miss Potts, can I talk to you for a minute?” Tony questioned.

She motioned for Phil to stay put before following after Tony.

The screen stayed on the agent as he looked around the room. He seemed a bit surprised, probably expecting more chrome in the building instead of the Hi-tech crossed with a Homey feel the room was giving off. He chalked it up to Pepper’s touch as he continued his perusing.

“J he’s opening the file!” Chryssy alerted.

“Should you three really be spying on your father?”

“Jarvis!” Ana Pleaded, dragging out his name, though it sounded as if she was driving over a number of speed bumps.

“I’ll fix that coding that keeps you out of online gaming !!” Alex bargained.

Immediately Pepper and Tony came into view.

“I was having Twelve percent of a moment.” Pepper said with a smirk.

The girls high-fived each other as the boys sat confused. Oksana took a seat in the plush chair in the corner of the room, pulling out a pen and a book of Sudoku as she settled in.

“This seems serious Phil’s pretty shaken.” Pepper continued.

“How can you tell? And why is he Phil?” Tony questioned just as he opened the file, which turned out to be digital, littered with clusters of information and videos of different subjects.

“What is all of this?” she questioned.

“This is…” Tony trailed off, with the flick of his arms he sent the file towards the holo station where they floated into the air in front of them. “This.” Tony finished lamely.

The sound was turned low, but a roar drew his attention to a video of the Hulk as he took on an army in front of Culver University. If shield was already here with him, they’d probably already gotten to Dr. Banner. His train of thought cut off as he watched a man with a cape and Hammer fight off a giant fire breathing robot. Thor. The file supplied. Tony blanched at the sight of Captain America in action as he turned, if he was in this file then the girls had indeed seen one Captain Rogers at that SHIELD facility.

“I’m going to take a Jet to D.C. I’ll let Oksana know to keep the girls while you do your homework.” She whispered.

“Tomorrow.” Tony pushed.

“You’ve got a lot of homework.” Pepper said still a bit wide eyed. She gave him a quick peck on the lips before walking towards Phil sending a quick look at one of the camera’s that Jarvis monitored through. Oksana barely looked up before firing off a text that she was fine with keeping the kids.

“Work hard! Do you mind giving me a lift to the airport?” she questioned Phil as she slipped on her shoes. She trusted Phil, however she had no idea how he’d overwritten Jarvis, and the last thing she wanted was for him to end up on a level he didn’t need to be on, even if the girls’ floor didn’t have a button. So she kept conversation up, and it wasn’t until he’d dropped her off at the airport that she released a sigh she hadn’t realized she was holding.

 

Tony half listened as she questioned Phil about a cellist he was seeing, he assumed it hadn’t worked out if Pepper’s noise of protest, as the elevator doors slid shut, was anything to go by.

“Girls?” Tony called out.

“Yes Papa?” They chorused. But not from the room, the intercom echoed a bit as he turned to the camera he assumed they were watching from.

“Can you be good for Oksana?” He questioned.

“Of course!” Chryssy cried out indignantly.

“No more eaves dropping.” He added

“We weren-” Ana cut off when Tony sent the camera a look.

“Is everything okay Papa? Uncle Phil looked upset.” Alex questioned.

“Everything will be okay, and Why is he Uncle Phil!!” Tony demanded.

Giggles sounded over the intercom. “They dared me to, we wanted to see that vein throb in your forehead!” Alex chortled.

“But Uncle Phil did look worried.” Ana repeated.

So that was a thing now? Tony thought to himself.

“Yeah your mom thought so too, but it’ll be okay.” He placated.

There was a beat of silence and Tony thought the girls might have hung up, but then it crackled.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.” He swore, before turning back to his “homework.”

**************

That night after Oksana tucked them in, the group waited a whole thirty minutes before scrambling from the bed. Alex ran to the desk, throwing the laptop open as Ana lunged for the tablet beside it.

Chryssy groaned but flicked on the table side lamp, knowing Oksana would walk past again to make sure the light was still out.

Ana brought up the security feed before zeroing in on the files floating around the holo table. She quickly sent it to the laptop, and as it finished booting up, the screen lit up with the pictures.

“Okay so there’s a file on Uncle Bruce, and Holy cow!! I knew it!” Alex whisper cheered.

“What?” Chryssy urged.

“We definitely saw Captain America that day at SHEILD, because there is a file on him.”

“Well what is all this?” Ana questioned in awe.

“The Avengers.” Zeus said in awe.

“The Avengers? But they said it was scrapped?” Athena reminded them.

“Well apparently not because if they are calling in Papa, and all these… Can we call them Superheroes? Because I want to.” Alex announced.

“They’ve already got a group name.” Poseidon reminded.

“Right, so they’re calling in these superheroes. We have Thor?” Alex listed.

“Thor? In Norse mythology he was the God of thunder. Where’d they find him?” Chryssy asked.

“Your historical knowledge never ceases to amaze me.” Hades said from beside her and she ruffled his curly hair playfully, making him squawk indignantly. She quickly dodged his attempt at revenge with a giggle.

“I can’t see much of it but it says something about New Mexico.” Alex offered.

“Well it is the land of enchantment, who else is in the file?” Ana pushed.

“Besides Papa? It mentions two SHIELD agents, but no names. A Strike Team Delta.” Alex quoted.

Ana began taping furiously at the tablet before handing it off to Alex.

“If I were a SHIELD password what would I be?” Alex hummed before typing into the tablet. Seconds later file after file appeared.

“Awesome!”  Zeus murmured from his position on the edge of the bed.

She quickly pulled up a file on Strike Team Delta that was buried under a million redacted files. She let out a sigh of relief when the clearance level she used let her through.

“Okay, Strike Team Delta, OH MY-”  her shout cut off when Chryssy slapped a hand over her mouth.

Ana peaked over her shoulder and had to stifle a gasp.

“Well at least we know who his partner is now?” Chryssy tried.

“Who is he?” Poseidon asked with a yawn.

“ _He_ is in so much trouble! How dare he not tell us _The_ Black Widow was his Partner!” Alex huffed.

“Well in his defense, he doesn’t know that the three of you hero worship her.” Athena reminded.

Ana grumbled as she snatched the tablet back, she tapped on it a few times before letting out an "Aha".

“Watch this.”

 She pushed the tablet into her brother’s hand and Poseidon moved closer to the others so they could see over his shoulder. It was a video of Natasha with her hands chained above her head. Whatever idiots had taken her didn’t deem it necessary to chain down her feet. Their mistake. After it seemed they’d finished talking, one of the goons prodded her with his gun and her foot lashed out. The gun went off, and the bullet tore through the restraint holding her chains. She wrapped her legs around his neck as she went down, twisting so he went down instead. Her hands were still cuffed together as another goon came running at her. She quickly grabbed the rifle that was aimed at her and jammed it into his face. She continued to tear through the men, somewhere along the way, after she broke someone’s neck, the cuffs came off.

“Hero worship that!” Ana snarked.

The quadruplets continued to gape at the screen and when they looked up, the girls new they’d been converted.

“So uncle Clint is an Avenger? Awesome we know three out of six!” Chryssy murmured.

“Jarvis? How did they find Uncle Bruce anyway?” Alex questioned.

“I’m already looking into it.” Jarvis announced, clearly upset that he didn’t have an answer yet.

“So why did SHIELD call for them?” Alex grumped as she resumed looking at the pictures.

“Wait! What’s that blue glowing thing?” Ana questioned. “And why does that glow look familiar?”

“The other night I woke up from a dream, about a bright blue light. It felt like another portal, like something barreled through.” Alex offered

“I thought that was just a nightmare.” Ana said with a shiver.

Alex only shrugged.

“So what? They’re looking for this cube? Who has it?” Ana questioned.

Alex searched a bit more through the files and huffed. “Some guy named Loki.”

“Loki? It can’t be a coincidence that he’s also a Norse God. Of mischief I think.” Chryssy said.

“Do you think he and Thor know each other?” Ana questioned. 

They all shrugged.

“Mythology is tricky, sometimes they get things right, sometimes people are way off. Things get lost in translation. Like there’s this one story where it says, a giant took Thor’s hammer and wouldn’t give it back unless Freya married him. Get this, Thor dressed up as woman, and Loki “her” hand maiden. And they somehow managed to get M..MoleJoner? I can’t pronounce it. The Hammer. back.”

“That giant must have been blind.” Ana concluded as she looked over Thor’s profile. 

“K. So Loki stole this blue cube thing, and Shield, wants The Avengers, that is really catchy, to get it back. There, curiosity satisfied! Can we please go back to sleep?” Athena whined.

The girls began shutting down everything before crawling back to bed. The seven curled up just in time as Oksana’s footsteps sounded down the hall. They stayed as still as possible as the woman peeked in. Letting out a collective sigh when her footsteps faded back down the hall.

*************

 

Morning came, and the girls found Tony slumped against the table, two cups of coffee sat drained beside him as he hunched over the desk.

“What time did he fall asleep?” Oksana questioned.

“A little after seven a.m.” Jarvis answered.

The clock read eight, so Oksana quickly ushered the girls back into the elevator.

“Come, let him rest you can finish showing me the rest of our floor.”

Alex looked behind her, worry tinging her eyes before she followed after them. “Jarvis can you dim the lights?”

 

Tony woke up two hours later coming to with a curse. “Jarvis, why didn't you wake me?” he questioned.

“Madam Rogov insisted. I didn’t see the harm, we’ve already prepared the suit, I’m working on a flight plan, and the girls are on their way up with food.” Jarvis offered.

“You developed a flight plan? To where?” Tony questioned.

“Working on one!” Chryssy corrected, as the group stepped off the elevator.

“Jarvis is using the algorithm he used to find you in the desert. Shield is probably doing the something similar, but if they find him before Jarvis does, he’ll let you know.”

“How did you three?” he began

“We did our own brand of research.” Alex told him, sitting the plate of food she’d been carrying in front of him.

“Thanks.” He chimed.

“What do you think the cube does?” Ana questioned, after he’d finished chewing.

Tony looked down at them before looking over at Oksana, who shrugged.

“The file said they were using it for an energy source. Theoretically since its self-renewable, It’d be infinite.”

“But?” Chryssy prodded.

Tony took another bite, only speaking after he finished chewing. “But, long before they had it another group did.”

“Right Hydra.” Chryssy announced

Tony stared at the three before rolling his eyes.

“I’m not even going to ask. But yes Hydra, they were using it to make weapons, so who knows what else the tesseract can do.” Tony affirmed.

“The tessa what?” Ana exclaimed.

 “Tesseract, that’s it’s official name according to the files.” Tony explained

“Oh, well, we think Loki used it to come to earth.” Alex informed him.

Tony froze.

“That dream we had. That blue light? We saw it, and something definitely came through it. You said so yourself we have no clue what else it can do. it’s practically Alien.” Ana said with a shrug.

“So Loki uses The tesseract to get here. Steals it along with a few agents.” Tony began.

“Shield Agents?” Chryssy questioned.

Tony nodded as he stuffed the last bit of sandwich in his mouth.

“How many?” Ana prodded.

“About three Agents and a Scientist.” Tony said

“Which three.” Alex pushed.

Tony furrowed his brows before turning to the table, looking over the file, he read off the list.

“Dr. Eric Selvig, Agent Ramirez, Agent Clearfield, and an Agent Barton?” he finished, he looked up when he didn’t get a response. “Anyone you know?” Tony questioned but froze, because the girls had gone deathly still.

Tony turned to the window when the room darkened, it had been sunny a second ago. And then he whipped around. Watching as three sets of Brown eyes flashed to blue.

“How?” Alex voiced in a low growl.

“Girls calm down.” Tony tried.

“How does someone steal a Shield Agent?” Chryssy questioned.

Tony fumbled with the file before reading that section, instead of skimming it like he did the first time.

“Loki came with some kind of scepter, he used it to somehow control their minds, apparently they just walked out with him, after the four of them were touched with it.” Tony turned back.

“He just walked out? No one tried to stop him?” Chryssy said in a calm voice, but Tony watched as tears began to slide down her cheeks, just as rain began to pelt the window.

He quickly grabbed the three, pulling them to him as he sat on the coach, the three showing no resistance.

“Who is he?” Tony questioned calmly.

“Uncle Clint.”

Tony froze at the honorific. He knew, though the girls seemed to call all the men in their lives uncle, that it was more than that. They had trusted this Agent Barton.

“He would get assigned to watch us if he was around when Uncle Nick had a meeting.” Alex whispered.

“He’s our friend.” Ana sobbed.

The wind whined against the window, as if searching for a way in, the rain coming down tenfold.

“Listen, I will do everything I can, to help him okay?”

Alex’s eyes began to flicker. “You promise?” she asked, oddly enough her eyes were dry, even as tears continued to flow freely from Ana and Chryssy’s.

The wind banged against the glass making the four jump.

Tony quickly turned back to them. “I promise.” Tony said firmly, hugging the three to his chest.

Alex let out a shuddering breath and in tandem Chryssy and Ana wrapped their free arms around each other. The wind and rain abruptly cutting off.

He heaved a sigh of relief as they relaxed against him.

“Tell me more about this guy.” Tony mumbled into Alex’s hair.

“Well we ran into him in the vents.” Chryssy began with a sniffle.

“The Vents?!” Tony squawked, making the three burst into giggles.

“Yeah but don’t tell anyone! It’s how we get around the building!” Ana whispered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it Kid.” Tony, affirmed.

“His codename is Hawkeye.” Chryssy continued

“Hawkguy?” he questioned and the girls fell into hysterical laughter.

“We call him that sometimes, but Hawk Eye.” Alex enunciated. “He’s an Archer.”

“Really?” Tony asked.

“Mhm, and he never misses.” Chryssy said matter of factly.

“Wait never?” Tony challenged

“Never ever!” Ana proclaimed.

“Now that I gotta see.” Tony announced.

Chryssy let out a heavy sigh, and Tony zeroed in on it.

“Do you think he’s okay?” She asked.

“I don’t know minion, but you’ll see him again. I’m sure of it. Are you three going to be okay?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, that. It startled us and we’ve never been this close to the sky before it’s almost like a constant hum.” Alex explained.

“Does it hurt?” he questioned, prepared to pack up and head back to the Malibu estate.

“Actually it feels kind of nice.” Chryssy announced.

“Pardon my interruption, but it seems we’ve found a match.” Jarvis trilled.

Tony picked up the tablet off the table when it pinged.

 “Stuttgart Germany?” Ana hummed.

“What is he up to?” Tony questioned before standing up.

“Oh we almost forgot.” Ana chimed before hanging him a small suitcase. “Jarvis helped us pack somethings after we asked him what you would need.”

Tony opened to find a portable repair kit for the suit among other things.

“And these, Jarvis said you’d probably want them” Alex explained.

“Jarvis is probably right.” He hummed, before pocketing the small device

“Technically it is Jarvis, if you need him to dig through anything just attach one of these to any computer stationed in the facility.”

“Another fine T3 product.” Tony said with a smile.

“Be safe Papa.” Chryssy commanded.

“Break his legs!” Ana roared.

“And come back home, okay?!” Alex pleaded.

They watched him step out onto the landing pad, the suitcase stowed, made to fit against a section of his suit, before taking off.

 “What?” Ana asked as a perplexed look crossed Alex’s features.

“Loki, he’s going to Germany. I don’t think he’ll have the blue thing with him.” Alex chimed.

“And why not?” Oksana questioned with a smile.

“Brainstorm?” Chryssy asked

The group nodded.

“Shield had the tesseract for a while right? Who had it before them?” Ana asked.

“They found it in the Arctic. Captain America went down with it when he crashed the plane.” Chryssy offered.

“But they didn’t find him with Tessa?” Ana reminded them, Alex and Chryssy sent her an exasperated look. “Tesseract is a really long name, okay!”

“No they didn’t find Tessa with him. The files say they found him a few weeks ago. So not long after we saw him at shield.” After a pause she said. “No wonder the man looked so confused, he’d just woken up.” Alex said with a huff

“Still, who had it before shield.” Ana queried.

“Hydra apparently, they used it to make weapons, would have won them the war if it wasn’t for Captain America and the Howling commandos.” Chryssy supplied.

“Oh yeah! I remember Grandma Peggy telling us about them.” Ana froze, before looking at her sisters.

“Hey Babulya can you see if we can make a trip to see Grandma Peggy?” Alex asked.

“I’ll call your mother.” She announced.

The girls nodded, if they were going to get the full story, they were going to get it from firsthand knowledge.

Two hours later, Pepper met them at their private hangar, scooping them into a hug.

“Can we go see grandma Peggy now?” Ana asked as she bounced towards the car.

“Listen girls we need to talk.” Pepper announced as she settled them into their car seats.

“About what?” Alex chimed.

“Grandma Peggy. She’s in a nursing home.” She told them hesitantly.

“Huh? Why?” Ana questioned.

“Well a year ago she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.” Pepper said solemnly.

“I don’t know what that is.” Chryssy confided after a beat of silence, Ana and Alex shaking their heads in agreement.

Pepper let loose a breath. “It means, grandma Peggy has trouble remembering sometimes, somedays she might remember everything, other days, well she doesn’t always remember who people are, or what year she’s in.”

“You mean she might not remember us.” Alex said after a minute.

“I’m sorry girls, if you don’t want to go through that just say the words, maybe we can call ahead, see how’s she feeling. She already knows she’ll be having visitors, but we can” Pepper babbled, a thing the girls rarely saw her do. strangely it made them want to smile.

**“So she might not remember us, or what we want to know.” Chryssy said through the link.**

**“Like James!” Ana said.**

That seemed to clear it up for them, and Pepper who’d notice their silent exchange had gone quiet.

“Even if she doesn’t remember us, we remember her!” Alex said firmly.

Pepper had to dab at her eye. her brave girls. “I think she’d like the company either way.” She managed to say.

As they checked in, the lady behind the desk smiled.

“You guys came on a good day, she’s out in the common area.” She said, before explaining the way.

Boisterous laughter came from the room as a very familiar voice detailed a story.

“He was so confused, I almost felt sorry for him.” She said.

“Boy Peggy, you sure are a spitfire.” A man said.

“Damn straight!” she returned just as the girls came around the corner.

She turned and watched as the three girls stared shyly over at her.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my three angels!” Peggy said with a smile.

Immediately the girls ran over hugging the woman gently.

“Grandma Peggy!!!” They chorused in relief.

“My you three have gotten big!  Did I miss a few birthdays?” She questioned, a bit startled.

“Nope never!” Alex said.

“oh thank heavens. Come, come we can talk in my room.”

“Virginia it’s lovely to see you.” Peggy greeted as they walked through the hall.

“Good to see you to Aunt Peggy” Pepper said with a smile, a bloom of warmth spreading through her, relieved that the woman remembered her.

“How are you and Tony doing?” Peggy asked.

Pepper blushed, remembered a bit too much. Hiding a smile, she said “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come now, don’t be coy. It was only a matter of time!”

The triplets giggled as they followed the two woman into a quaint bedroom.

“So what brings you to D.C.?” Peggy asked.

“I was here on business, the girls on the other hand decided they wanted to visit you.”

Peggy turned her attention to the girls.

“We wanted you to tell us a story.” Alex said, her sisters holding their breath beside her.

“My memory isn’t what it used to be, but I’ll give it my best shot.” Peggy said honestly.

“Well we wanted to know more about the War?” Alex returned. “The one with Captain America.”

Peggy gave them a small smirk. “Well lucky for you I remember that one vividly! Where should I begin?”

“At the beginning of course.” Alex said with a smile.

Peggy narrowed her eyes at them, but after a moment she moved over to push a button on the wall. “Samantha would you mind bringing enough tea for five, whatever snacks you have to go with it would be lovely as well.”

“Of course Mrs. Carter, it will be up in a minute”

“Thank you so much dear.” She said before turning back to the girls who’d situated themselves in a chair beside the bed.

“I have a bit of work to do, let me know if you need anything.” Pepper announced before stepping into the hall.

“Let’s see, oh yes.” Peggy said before diving into a story about the war and the men who changed it.

The three listened with rapt attention, silently piecing together Peggy’s story with what they already knew. They only made the mistake of interjecting once, throwing Peggy off her line of thought. It had happened when she got to the howling commandos, the girls had wondered if she’d had any pictures.

“I’m sorry girls they’re all in storage, I could only bring so much when I came here. But, I can call my niece, Sharon. I’m sure she knows where they are.” Peggy had said. Any other question or sudden jolts of realization were made through the link.  

After she’d finished they talked about anything and everything until a nurse came in and told them visiting hours were almost over.

“Oh Grandma Peggy. We wanted to give you something!” Ana rushed out.

“Give me something? Well quickly now don’t make me wait.” She chided making the girls giggle.

“We’ve only done this once, but I think we’re better at it now.” Alex explained/

“Hold your hand out please.” Chryssy prompted.

Peggy did so with a small smile on her face as the three cupped their hands over her outstretched one.

“Don’t freak out okay?” Alex warned.

“I’ll have you know young lady that, wow that tickles a little.” She said with a gasp.

As their eyes changed colors, Peggy watched them concentrate on whatever it was they were doing. When they did finish there was a slight weight in her hand and once again she gasped as colors unfolded before her eyes. The sphere was warm in her hand and small enough to fit in her palm, almost the size of a peach. The elements swirled around inside before settling into each other to complete the scene. Green swirled before sprouting into grass at the bottom of sphere. Then aquamarine, before it settled into a shimmering lake. And then an indescribable array of colors, that formed the sky with clouds seemingly rolling in the distance.

Peggy watched it entranced.

“So even if you might not remember us, we’ll still be with you.” Alex explained.

Peggy smiled brightly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Is that okay?” Ana prodded.

Peggy nodded unable to form words.

“Though I will be having a word with your father about keeping secrets from me, I always knew you three were special.” She said with a quirk to her lips.

Soon the three left and Peggy watched as the scenery changed to night complete with twinkling stars.

 

When they got back to New York Night had fallen.

“Jarvis?” Alex called as they stepped off the elevator.

“Good evening. I trust you had a safe trip?” he greeted.

“We did thank you. Do you have an update?” Chryssy asked hopefully.

“Loki has been taken into Shield custody. Sir, and two other “Avengers” are on their way to a facility. I won’t have a location, until” Jarvis broke off.

“What’s wrong?” Chryssy asked.

“It seems they’ve encountered a bit of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” Alex questioned in alarm.

“I’m not at liberty to say.” Jarvis said after a pause.

“Are you at liberty to show us?” Chryssy challenged.

Jarvis was silent as if checking to see if that was a proper loophole and seconds later a live feed of Tony’s HUD display appeared on the holographic screen.

“You’re the best Jar!” Ana called before focusing on the screen.

Tony was flying through the air as Jarvis directed him on which way to go through his display screen.

Two energy signatures lit up, and he slammed into one of them not stopping his momentum as he tackled the man to the ground.

“This I gotta see!” Zeus called squishing into the seat beside Ana. Quickly the eight situated themselves as the fight began.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” The blonde man boomed.

“Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?” Tony taunted.

The girls bursted into giggles, and Oksana silently thanked Jarvis for muting their end of the interaction. And not for the first did she wonder how far the triplets had the A.I. wrapped around their tiny fingers.

“This is beyond you metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice!” he bellowed. And the girls wondered if that might have been the only tone of voice the God spoke in.

“He gives up the cube, he’s all yours. Until then, stay out of my way.” Tony warned. Thor looked to be complacent as Tony turned and began his trek towards Loki. “Tourist.” Tony murmured. 

“Never turn your back on the enemy!” Oksana roared. And the kids bit back giggles.

As if hearing her he turned around just in time to be hit in the chest with the hammer. Flying through a tree before crashing to the ground. 

“Okay.”  He murmured moving to stand. The hammer rose into the air and Tony watched as it flew back into Thor’s outstretched hand.

“Okay that is kinda cool.” Hades announced.

Thor began to Spin the hammer in his grip, picking up speed with each rotation.

Tony quickly fired off a repulsor from his left gauntlet, following up with a knee into his chest, that sent Thor flying backwards and through a tree, the bark splintering at the impact.

Thor slid into a roll before crouching on a knee. Arm outstretched and the hammer once again in his grasp. He began to twirl it again and Tony watched, too late to stop him as lightning struck down into it, and then was sent directly into his chest plate. He bit back a groan, wondering how this lightning would compare to the girls’, he only had a minute to ponder it before it was over, and Jarvis’ voice rang clear.

“Power at four hundred percent capacity.” He announced sounding a bit proud.

Tony blinked at the bright HUD screen as the suit directed the excess power elsewhere.

“How about that.” Tony said with a smirk

The girls continued to watch as the two went head to head.

“Wait should they be fighting?” Alex questioned.

“What?” Poseidon questioned like it was obvious.

“Well technically they’re supposed to be on the same team. Thor was in that file, meaning they wanted him for the Avengers.” She reminded him.

A loud clang had them looking back to the screen as a figure dressed in red, white and blue, caught what appeared to be a shield in his right hand.

“I see it now.” Ana announced.

“See what.” Hades questioned.

“The righteousness, he just screams Justice will be served.” She explained, making the group laugh.

They looked back at the screen just as they got a face full of hammer, Tony flying with the impact. Then there was a bright light that seemed to do more harm than good as it demolished the forest within a mile radius.

“Are we done here?” was the last thing they heard before the screen went dark.

“Bedtime!” Oksana called, ignoring their shouts of protest.

 

Tony slowed his stride as Thor and the Captain marched Loki toward the landed quinjet.

“Jarvis mute the exterior audio. How’s everything on the home front.”

“All is well; would you like me to place a call?”

“Keep it secure.”

“of course sir.”

“Papa!” chorused over the line, and Tony couldn’t hold back the smile that stretched across his face.

“Minions! Your still up.”

“yeah, we were just getting ready for bed.” Alex told him

“Oh? I heard you three took a trip today?” he asked.

“Yeah we went to see Grandma Peggy!” Chryssy told him.

“How’s she doing?” Tony asked,

“They said we came on a good day, she remembered us! So we talked for a while and we had tea?” Alex offered.

Tony let out a sigh of relief. He’d hoped the girls wouldn’t have to witness one the few women they looked up to slowly forget them. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for them to visit, but ultimately told Pepper to explain the full situation and allow them to decide. He himself had been cowed. Aunt Peggy had been a bright spot in his childhood and he didn’t know if he’d be able to take being forgotten. Jarvis, Peggy and Rhodey had been his saving grace. He’d barely made it through Jarvis’ untimely death. He didn’t think he could handle it again. But maybe it was time to visit Aunt Peggy, it wasn’t fair to her to let his fear keep him away, regardless if she remembered him or not.

“Stark are you coming?” Rogers called.

He held up a finger but nodded nonetheless.

“Look minions, I’ve got to go. Get some sleep and I’ll try to call in the morning.”

“Goodnight!” they yelled before the line went silent. He quickly stepped onto the jet, letting the helmet disassemble to reveal his face. Even with the addition of Thor, Loki still had that smug look on his face. It was going to be a long night.

Tony looked over the Mark VI with a grimace. Scuffs and dents littered the face plate. And one of the gauntlets had been crushed in the Asgardians firm grip. Before he could dwell on it, someone cleared their throat behind him.

“Well if it isn’t Agent Phil.” Tony greeted.

“Mr. Stark, I’m here to show you the way to the main deck.” Coulson informed him.

“Right.” Tony said. Pushing a button to secure the suit in its holding case.

“This way.” Coulson guided, ushering him from the room.

“So you’re into the arts?” Tony questioned.

“Sorry?”

“The cellist? Where’d you two meet?” Tony queried.

“Mr. Stark.” Coulson warned, though there was no bite behind it.

“Come on, where is she now? You could take a weekend.” Tony joked.

Coulson only shook his head as they turned a corner.

Tony pretended to let the conversation drop as the sounds of conversation floated towards them. “Iridium, what did they need the iridium for?” someone questioned.

 “It’s a stabilizing agent.” Tony said offhandedly, so use to answering questions for the girls he didn’t even realize he’d spoken to the room.

“I’ll fly you there. Keep the love alive.” Tony continued to Phil.  

Phil shook his head again before escaping towards the nearest agent.

Realizing the room had gone silent he replayed the last few seconds. Right the iridium question. “Means the portal won’t collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.” Jarvis had found out about that tidbit of information a day ago.

Thor watched him closely as he walked by him, and Tony couldn’t help it. “No hard feelings, point break. You’ve got a mean swing.” he assured him with a light tap on his bicep as he continued his stride. Looking around at all the computers surrounded by agents, he realized he’d need a distraction, and he immediately found it in an agent huddled at his workstation.

“Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails!” he shouted before pointing dramatically at the agent while using his free hand to attach the tiny device to one of the hard drives. “That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” He came to a stop in the middle of the cluster of computers. He looked at them curiously covering one eye, to get a more Fury perspective. “How does he do this?” he questioned.

“He turns.” A woman in a black catsuit replied.

Tony nodded as if he understood better, “Well. That sounds exhausting.” Everyone was looking at him again. Stabilizing Portals. Right. “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily.” He watched a familiar red head stiffen. Right Natashalie was here. He ignored her. “Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something that’ll kick start the cube.” He finished, looking around at all the blank faces in the room.

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” The woman questioned.

“Last night. The Packet? Selvig’s notes? The extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?” Tony questioned, honestly baffled. Someone here had to have read through the notes. It was basically the only reason they weren’t seven steps behind Loki.

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Rogers questioned, ignoring the question.  

Before Tony could respond someone else did. “He’s got to heat the cube to a hundred twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.”

Dr. Bruce banner. Tony wasn’t sure how to feel about him being here. No one should have been able to find him, and yet he seemed to be here willingly.

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.” Tony supplied.

Bruce seemed to take an unconscious step towards him and Tony matched it with his own.

“Well if he could do that he could achieve heavy Ion fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce acknowledged.

Oh. This could be fun. “Finally someone who speaks English!” Tony chimed.

“Is that what just happened?” Steve questioned.

Tony ignored him, holding out a hand for Dr. Banner to shake. And something like respect flashed in his eyes, a look he was sure was mirrored in his own.

“It’s good to properly meet you, Dr. Banner. You’re work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled.”

A look of confusion crossed Bruce’s features before a small smile settled on his face at the praise.

“And I’m a huge fan of the way you, lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.” He said watching Bruce closely. Tony had a plan. But he’d have to be sure before he allowed Bruce anywhere near the girls, he had a theory though.

“Thanks.” Bruce returned, dropping his gaze to the ground.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.” Fury announced as he swept into the room. Because while wearing a black duster? That was the only proper way to make an entrance.

“Let’s start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.” Steve contributed.

Tony was about to reluctantly agree when fury cut in.

“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor interjected, clearly confused at the figure of speech.

“I do! I understood that reference.” Steve announced happily to the group

Tony couldn’t hold back the eye roll, but managed to bite back a sigh. So with a turn he tapped Bruce on the shoulder. “Shall we play. Doctor?”

Bruce glanced around before falling into step beside him. “We shall.”

 

The two scientist had been working all night, and with a sigh Bruce scanned the scepter with the Gamma Radiation detector. Tony continued to shift through algorithms on his screen.

Bruce let out a frustrated huff drawing his attention from the display. “The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig’s reports on the Tesseract. But it’ll take weeks to process.”

Tony hummed thoughtfully “Or, we could bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” He assured him with a shrug.

This time Bruce let out a huff of amusement. “All I packed was a tooth brush.”

“You should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors all R&D. You’d love it, it’s practically candy land.”

Bruce smiled. “Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of… broke Harlem.” He said with a self-depreciating shrug.

Tony slowly walked towards him. “Well, I can promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises.” He quickly poked him with the small electrical prod he’d hidden.

“Ow!” Bruce groaned.

Tony leaned in, watching him closely for a reaction. “Nothing?” he questioned once he saw no hint of green. “Hmm, you really have got a lid on it. What’s your secret? Jazz? Yoga? Hulk worthy weed?” he prodded.

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve questioned as he barged into the room, an enraged look marring his features.

“Funny things are?” Tony said with a shrug, not taking his eyes off of Bruce.

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn’t funny.” Steve accused, “No offense, doctor.” He said as an afterthought.

“No it’s alright. I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things.” Bruce said with a pointed look at Tony, who bit back a chuckle.

“You’re tiptoeing, big guy. You need to strut!” Tony clucked.

“And you need to focus on the problem!” Steve chastised.

Tony finally turned to face him. “You think I’m not? Why did Fury call us in? And Why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables.” Tony finished, pulling a bag of dried blue berries out of his pocket. Someone had thought ahead, throwing them in with the rest of his tools like some kind of adult snack pack. Tony chuckled at the girls’ antics, thankful none the less. He was starving.

“You think Fury’s hiding something?” Steve clarified.

“He’s a spy! Captain he’s thee spy. His secrets have secrets. Bothering him too, isn’t it?” he questioned Bruce, before shoving a handful of berries into his mouth.

Bruce floundered at being drawn into the conversation. “Uh… I just wanna finish my work here, then…”

“Doctor?” Steve prodded.

Bruce let out a huff before sending a betrayed look at Tony.

“A warm light for all mankind, Loki’s jab at Fury about the Cube.” Bruce finally said.

“I heard it.” Steve conceded.

Bruce pointed a finger at Tony. “Well, I think that was meant for you.” He admonished with a sigh.

Nodding Tony noticed he might not be the only one running on fumes, holding out his bag of blueberries for the doctor, before urging him to continue.

Bruce hesitantly grabbed a handful before moving forward.

“It’s been posted all over the news?” Bruce said to Steve.

“You mean Stark Tower? That big ugly...” He broke off at Tony’s look but offered no apology. “Building in New York?”

“That building is powered by Stark Reactors, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what? A year?” Bruce queried.

“That’s just a prototype. I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now.” He explained.

“Sooo, why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they even doing in the clean energy business to begin with?” Bruce gibed.

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD’S secure flies.” Tony said with no small amount of glee.

Steve looked like he swallowed something sour. “I’m sorry, did you say...” he trailed off.

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we’ll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide.” He finished, offering Steve the bag of blueberries.

He looked down at them in disdain. Tony quickly pulled them back before he could do something stupid, like slap them away.

“Yet your confused about why they didn’t want you around?” Steve chided.

Honestly, Howard might as well have been in the room. “An intelligence agency that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible.” Tony admonished.

“I think Loki’s trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.” Steve chided.

Tony shrugged “Following isn’t really my style.”

Steve smiled a condescending smile “And your all about style, aren’t you?”

Something inside of Tony unhinged. “Of the people in this room, which one is A. wearing a spangley outfit, and two not of use?” he challenged.

Bruce cut in, clearly seeing where this would lead. “Steve tell me none of this smells even a little bit funky to you?”

Steve seemed to consider it, but in the end a frown settled on his face. “Just find the Cube.” He ordered before stalking from the room.

“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about?” Tony huffed.

***********

 

Chryssy, woke to a buzzing noise, but refused to sit up, choosing to nudge Ana in the arm instead. Who groaned before pushing at Alex who was situated at the end of the bed. She rolled off with a soft Thud.

“Oof. What? What is it?” She said with a groan.

“Turn off your thing-a-ma-bob.” Ana muttered, before pulling the covers over her head.

Alex let out a huff before dragging herself into her desk chair. She tapped a few keys, silencing the noise, and simultaneously brought up the source of the alert. “Oh. Papa put the bug onto a computer, we are live ladies.”

The ladies grumbled in response.

“Miss Alex, I can handle this.” Jarvis announced quietly, already funneling the files.

“But I wanted to help.” Alex returned sleepily.

“You already have. Now allow me to do the rest.” Jarvis urged.

Alex nodded slowly before climbing back into bed. “Thanks J, you’re awesome.” She said before immediately falling asleep.

Jarvis shut off the monitor, bathing the room in darkness once more as his wards slept peacefully into the morning.

********

Tony’s mind was whirling. They’d been right about shield, Fury had pulled him aside before everything had started, finally giving them a moment to talk.

_“What are you trying to do here Nick?” Tony addressed him._

_“I’m trying to save the world.” Nick assured._

_“What, after you put it in danger?” he accused_

_“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not the head of the fish.” Nick said pointedly._

_Well that was news, not surprising but news none the less._

_“Well that clears things up, I’m glad we could talk.” Tony replied sardonically._

_“Tony! I’m doing the best I can with what I have, and it would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to go through all four of you to do that.” Nick countered._

_“The other two then? They’re your eyes and ears?” Tony pushed._

_Nick stayed silent._

_“So you just plant two of your spies into the group, are they there just to be your flies on the wall?” Tony drawled._

_“Agent Barton, and Agent Romanoff are two of my top agents, when the Avengers were first brought up we agreed that having two of our own in the group would give us a semblance of balance. However,” he continued cutting off Tony’s protest. “They were also chosen because they were deemed the most likely to fit in with the team. Their abilities alone qualified them for the Avengers initiative. It wasn’t all about having a reliable source to report back to us.” He finished._

_Tony stayed silent for a moment, before letting it drop. “They know about him by the way.” He offered._

_“Barton? Shit. How’d that go over?” Nick said with a grimace._

_“About as well as you’d think. I might need you to keep an eye out for freak storms in Manhattan.” Tony hinted._

_Surprise flickered in Nick’s good eye, before it disappeared in a blink._

_“You’d still let me, after all of this?” Nick questioned._

_Tony huffed. “I couldn’t keep them away from you if I tried. Not that I’d want to, they don’t have a lot of blood relatives, if you hadn’t noticed. I wouldn’t take that from them.”_

_Nick nodded his head, relief flashing through his eye briefly, but Tony caught it._

_“So what now?” Tony questioned after a beat of silence passed._

_“Keep at it. Clearly you’ve got work to do.” Nick said with a wry grin._

_“Are you telling me to continue to dig through secure SHIELD files?” he questioned looking scandalized._

_Nick raised an eyebrow._

_“Oh come on, it’s not nearly as fun when I have permission.” Tony grumbled._

_Nick snorted in amusement. “I need you on this Tony, I wouldn’t have called you in otherwise.” He said with a sigh._

_“Yeah, yeah, don’t get sappy. Where family, or something like it.” Tony joked before leaving the room._

 

 The rest was a giant blur. But not really, he remembered it all rather vividly, it just happened too fast. They’d taken a beating, a bad one. They’d somehow managed to get Agent Barton back. But now Loki had escaped with scepter, Banner was gone, Thor was gone, and Agent Coulson….” He let out a groan. Is this what he was signing up for? If it was he’d need to reread the fine print.

Behind him he could hear footsteps but he kept his gaze on the now empty holding cell until the person rounded the corner. Captain America. Just what he needed. He remained silent, letting the Captain flounder for a starter.

“Was he married?” Steve asked.

“No. well, there was a uh…. Cellist. I think.” Tony supplied.

“I’m Sorry, he seemed like a good man.” He offered.

Tony wanted to scoff, could he accept an apology for a man he barely knew? He could try.

“He was an idiot.” That wasn’t what he’d meant to say.

“Why? For believing?” Steve objected.

“For taking on Loki alone.” Tony clarified.

“He was doing his job” Steve insisted.

“He was out of his league. He should have waited, he should have…” Tony trailed off, not entirely sure what the agent should have done. Stayed out of the way? No, he never would have done that.

“Sometimes there isn’t a way out, Tony.” Steve pointed out

This was too much; he didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Right, and how did that work for him?” he grumbled turning to leave the room

“Is this the first time you’ve lost a soldier?” Steve questioned.

Tony stiffened, He could still hear Yinsen. Telling him to do better, to be better. Gave his life believing he would.

“WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS!” he bellowed. “I’m not marching to Fury’s fife!” he continued albeit a bit calmer.

“Neither am I. He’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does.” Steve proclaimed.

Tony’s gaze drifted. A blood smear on the wall. Coulson’s blood…

He drew his gaze away from it realizing he’d been lost in thought. At Cap’s mention of a power source he tuned back in. Didn’t they have this conversation earlier? He’d need to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect… But… But what if he did? All he’d need is a power source. But where…

“He made it personal.” Tony began, pacing the room.

“That’s not the point.” Steve urged.

Wasn’t it though?

“That IS the point. That’s Loki’s point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?” Tony ranted.

“To tear us apart.” Steve suggested.

“Sure, divide and conquer. But he knows he’ll have to take us out to win. That’s what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it.” Tony’s thoughts were raging.  “He wants an audience.” He realized quietly, not caring if Steve could hear him.

“Right, I caught his act in Stuttgart.” Steve allowed.

Apparently he could hear him.

“That was just a preview, the opening act. Loki’s a full on diva. He want’s flowers. He wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered…” He trailed off, before realization dawned on him. “Son of a Bitch.” Tony hissed just as his earpiece buzzed, and he was off.

“Shit, Shit, Shit.” He murmured.  He ran to wear his suit was stored. Quickly pulling the helmet on.

“Rogov?” Tony answered.

“Anthony there are people on the roof!” Oksana reported “Why haven’t you picked up?”

“Technical difficulties, Look grab the kids and get out! Out of the city, as far away as possible. Do you hear me?” Tony ordered.

“Yes, yes I hear you. Jarvis where are the girls currently?” She queried.

“You mean you aren’t together?” Tony groaned.

“The triplets are in the lab; the cougars are in the green house; however, Mr. Zeus is resting in Sir’s personal quarters.” Jarvis announced.

“Round them up J, keep the intruders away from them.” Tony commanded

“Understood, sir.” Jarvis returned before enacting his security protocols.

“Rogov, you got this?” Tony questioned

“I can handle this. I shall take care of them.” She vowed. “Be safe Anthony.” She said before hanging up.

*************

Alex moved over to the bench Ana was seated on, watching as she worked. She opened her mouth to offer assistance when Jarvis’ voice interrupted.

“Pardon my interruption, Madam Rogov is on her way to you, please remain where you are.” Jarvis informed them.

“Jar? What’s going on?” Ana asked.

“The tower has been compromised” Jarvis replied.

“Where are the cougars?” Alex asked

“I’ve been ordered to keep you here.” Jarvis explained.

“Jarvis where are they?” Chryssy insisted.

Silence

“Jarvis!” Chryssy pleaded.

“Hades, Athena, and Poseidon are currently in the green house, Zeus has been napping in Sir’s room.” Jarvis announced.

Chryssy huffed. “You two go to the green room, I’ll get Zeus.”

“I insist you stay where you are, Madam Rogov is in route, as well as Sir.” Jarvis urged.

“We’ll be really quick. In and out.” Ana promised before the three vanished.

Jarvis let out a sigh.

Alex and Ana appeared beside Hades, startling him off of a branch.

“Why?” he questioned, from his new position on the ground.

“We need to go, like now!” Alex hissed.

Athena and Poseidon quickly joined them. “Go where?” Athena questioned.

“No time!” Ana said before placing a hand on Hades and Athena’s shoulder. Alex quickly doing the same to Poseidon before the group disappeared to the lab.

Oksana chose that moment to enter, quickly doing a head count before groaning.

“Where are Zeus and Chryssandra?”

 

Chryssy silently appeared into the dark room, the blinds drawn to keep out the light. She quickly made her way to the bed, clambering on to it in search of her brother.

“Zeus?” She hissed. Unsure if she was looking for a cougar or a boy. She got her answer seconds later when she noticed tufts of curly hair peeking out of the blankets at the head of the bed.

“Zeus! Now is not the time for heavy sleepi-” She cut off when her sensitive hearing picked up on voices down the hall.

She grimaced before grabbing his arm, “I tried to warn you!” she whispered before vanishing in the wind.

Zeus came to just as they appeared in the lab, a whine escaping his lips.

“I hate it when you do that!” he groaned.

“Good you’re here, let’s go!” Oksana urged.

“Go where?” Alex said pointedly.

“Your father said far, can you get us to Malibu?” She questioned.

In response the three grabbed whoever was closest and vanished.

“There! We’re far away! Now will you please tell us what’s going on?” Ana pushed.

“I am unsure; I just did what your father asked.” Oksana said before taking a seat. “Invisible Jarvis, please phone Anthony.”

“Rogov? Is everything okay on your end?” Tony questioned as he flew to the tower.

“We are far away in Malibu, please explain now.” Oksana ordered.

“Loki managed to escape, I think he’s going to use the Arc reactor to power his machine.”

“What kind of machine?” Ana questioned, on alert.

“Am I on speaker? Of course I am. Look minions, something big is going to happen, and this will be easier, for me at least, knowing that you are nowhere near this. I’ll call you as soon as I can.” Tony announced.

“Please be okay!” Alex begged.

“I’ll try minion, gotta go!” Tony said before hanging up.

“Well if something is happening, I’m sure the news will know about it.” Chryssy surmised, changing the channel to the world news. Which was going on about the happenings in Japan. So the group waited for any information on their Manhattan home. Though they didn’t have to wait long. They felt it before they saw, the triplets wincing simultaneously, before a dazed look crossing there features.

“Somethings coming through.” Alex said with a gulp.

And then finally the news caught up, cameras pointed to the sky as tiny specs grew nearer and nearer through a giant hole in the sky.

“Aliens!” Hades shrieked in dismay

“Papa!” the rest chorused as Iron Man came into view. Taking out a cluster before they could breach the skyline.

The family watched, naming the avengers as they appeared on the screen. The triplets letting out a sigh of relief when Hawkeye appeared on screen helping civilians off of a bus. They watched with baited breath as more and more creatures poured out of the hole. It seemed to continue for hours, when it was really only thirty minutes.

“Someone needs to close it!” Oksana hissed as giant whale like creatures brought more of the invaders through the portal.  

Minutes later Iron Man appeared flying what seemed to be a Missile. He banked hard, not slowing down as he skimmed the tip of the tower and flew directly into the hole in the sky.

“What?” Alex gasped standing from her chair. “Why didn’t he let go?” she whispered

And then to their horror the portal started to close.

“Jarvis!” Ana called.

“I’ve lost contact with the Mark VII” he said in dismay.

“Chryssy, Ana!” Alex barked before vanishing

“Girls!” Oksana yelled.

 

The three reappeared on the other side of the Tower roof, out of sight from the roofs other occupants. The three raised their arms skyward, their eyes flashing blue. Around them debris shuddered and plummeted to the ground as they increased the earths gravitational pull, somehow managing to keep it confined to their area. The Portal continued to close with no sign of their father.

“Come on, come on!” Alex pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks.

*********

Tony watched as the missile exploded, taking out the ship he assumed the aliens were coming from. He gasped for air as the suit failed to retain oxygen in the new atmosphere. The suit disconnecting the group call he tried to make to his family. He was going to die. Leaving the girls, the cougars, Pepper. He was going to die alone as even Jarvis failed to connect to the Mark VII’s database. Those were his last thoughts before everything went dark.

***********

The girls maintained their control over the earth’s pull, praying it wasn’t too late. Just as the portal became minuscule the Mark VII fell through with all of its red and gold glory. The three released their pull with a staggering gasp, nearly collapsing in relief. They watched as their father fell and continued to fall, and fall, realizing too late that he wasn’t stopping.

“Papa!” They shrieked, however the roar of The Hulk as he slammed into Tony drowned them out. And for the second time in the last minute they let out a breath of relief. Gripping each other tight as The Hulk pushed the suit off of him where they’d landed on ground. They watched as Thor, Captain America, and Hulk stood around Tony’s prone form.

“Please get up!” Chryssy begged.

When it seemed he wouldn’t the three began to gear up, preparing to send a jolt of lightning into the arc reactor as a last ditch effort. But as the sky darkened, the Hulk let out another roar that shook the surrounding buildings, and they watched as their dad jerked to life.

“Oh my God!” Alex choked through her tears.

“Oh man! I’m pretty sure I’m having a panic attack” Ana said with a gasp.

Chryssy gripped her tight. “Breathe with me sestra, in and out!” she ordered, for her benefit as well as Ana’s, breathing out loud until Ana’s breathing matched her own.

“He’s okay,” Alex reminded them. “We need to go.” She urged grabbing them both before disappearing, just as footsteps drew near their side of the roof.

Oksana let out a shriek as the three reappeared in the living room.

_“Devushki! You gave me a heart attack,_ _bozhe moy! Are you okay? What were you thinking? You give me gray hair, do not you see that I am old?_ She fired off in Russian as the girls ran into her waiting arms.

_“We’re sorry!”_ Alex sobbed. _“We’re okay! But they... Babulya they were going to leave papa to die! How could they? They’re supposed to be heroes!”_ She wailed crying harder in the woman’s embrace.

Oksana softened at that, simultaneously gripping them tighter. _“Hush now, Devushki. It will be okay. You saved him. Everything will be okay.”_ She murmured, rocking the three as she settled back into the couch. _“Everything will be okay.”_

Tony sat up with a groan, Thor offering him an arm to stand up. “That was wild, wow, I will not be doing that again, Jarvis cross flying into space off my bucket list.” He said with a wince.

“We must find Loki at once.” Thor bellowed.

“Puny God!” Hulk huffed. “In tower.” He announced, marching down the street,

“You heard him.” Tony breathed following after him, Thor and the Captain falling into step behind them.

By the time they made it up stairs, Hawkeye, and widow were already there watching a prone figure laying in an indented section of the floor.

“You really did a number on him.” Tony said in awe.

The hulk let out a proud huff in response.

 A soft groan alerted the group, and they watched Loki drag himself into a seated position. Immediately the two spies trained their weapons on him as they all surrounded Loki, leaving no space for him to escape.

“If it’s all the same to you.” Loki breathed. “I think I’ll have that drink now.”

“That offer was before you threw me out the window.” Tony said, watching as Thor stepped forward placing, what could only be, Asgardian hand cuffs around Loki’s forearms. The mechanism locked into place before it expanded over his hands.

“Good. We’re good here? I’m going to go find a shawarma place that wasn’t destroyed. Tell Jarvis if you need anything.” He announced before leaving the room.

“Welcome to Stark Tower.” Jarvis greeted, startling the group.

“What the hell?” Clint questioned, unsure of where to point his weapon.

 

Tony made it down to his workshop before he collapsed. “Jarvis get me out of this thing!” he commanded. Immediately the suit disassembled around him, he dragged himself towards the couch before plopping down with a  huff.

“Where are my Kids J.” he groaned. Immediately the lab went on lock down metal shutters closing where ever there was glass. He waited as Jarvis dialed the Malibu mansion, and three tear streaked faces appeared on his holo screen. The bots crowded around him waving manically to try and assist him in some way. He lovingly shooed them away before focusing.

“Papa!” They sobbed.

“Oh, minions I’m sorry.” He said, tears dampening his eyes.

“Can we come see you?” Ana managed to ask.

Tony wiped a hand down his face before looking around. “Jarvis are we secure.”

“I shall keep all guest on the penthouse level.”

“Get over here.” Tony agreed. Seconds later he was tackled into a group hug. Tony sighed at the contact somehow managing to draw all seven of them into a proper embrace. Oksana ran a hand through his hair before sitting down on a chair beside them.

“You almost died!” Alex cried.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled.

“You weren’t going to make it! They were going to…” Ana tried but only succeeded in making herself cry harder.

Tony gripped them tighter.

“We thought we were too late! The hole was so small, we didn’t think you’d make it!” Chryssy babbled.

“What do you mean too late?” Tony prodded.

“When we saw you fly through the hole! They closed it behind you! We almost lost you! Why didn’t you let go?!” Ana sobbed.

“But I made it back?” Tony prodded.

“Because we pulled you through!” Alex said, releasing another shuddering breath as she buried her face in his neck.

“How?” Tony questioned.

None of them answered as another bout of tears overcame them.

“If I may, as the portal was closing, I noticed a mass of pressure that aided in speeding up your descent.” Jarvis supplied.

“You increased the earth’s gravitational pull? You! That’s! Wha?” Tony questioned in dismay.

“Only a little! But what else were we s’pose to do? We couldn’t just leave you in space!” Alex shrieked.

“You’re not angry are you Papa?” Chryssy whispered, so low Tony barely heard it.

He placed a kiss to her forehead, “Angry? Of course not. You defied the laws of physics to save me.” He said with a strained chuckle “Thank you.” Tony said seriously continuing to hold them tight. “Thank you so much.” He murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop! What did ya'll think? I know its a lot and i tried to stay focused! I really did Honest! but I kept having Ideas, and not all of them made sense.. my mind is a strange place to be. Thank you for reading! if you have any comments or questions feel free to do so! I love feedback!!
> 
> The fish rots from the head down. i had a professor who use to say that... i think it fits


	26. The Minions v.s. The Avengers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy guysss..... fancy seeing you here. *avoids eye contact at all cost.*  
> Sorry that took so long. I kept trying to make it perfect and man .....hopefully it resembles a story line?? Releasing the 26th chapter on the 26th of august was a pure coincidence.. but i like it. Enjoy!!!

The tower was under construction... Again. So the family was once again staying at stark mansion. To Tony's chagrin. He'd made modifications to the place over the years some more recently.

He found the kids by the pool, also modified like the others to cycle purified water.

 He watched them play before stepping closer.

"Hey girls, can we talk for a minute?"

The triplets swam to the nearest floaty before clambering onto it, made difficult by the fact that they were all using the same one, a large pepperoni pizza.

Tony chuckled as they struggled, watching as they situated themselves onto it. Alex placed a hand over the water and it glided seamlessly through the pool, leaving ripples in the water as they went. It came to an easy stop in front of him at the edge of the pool, and the girls looked up to him expectantly.

"Step into our office, Mr. Stark" Chryssy drawled in a Russian accent.

Tony sent them a look, before shrugging. He quickly got rid of any devices before sending them another look. "Hold it steady." he said with a mock glare, remembering what had happened the last time they'd done this.

Alex placed her hand in the water and nodded.

He stepped onto it hesitantly and was impressed to find it didn't move an inch. So he quickly situated himself onto the large float, getting comfortable he laid on his back. The float gently moved around the pool and Tony found himself relaxing as they went.

"What did you want to talk about?" Chryssy questioned

"Right, so you remember how all the letters were knocked off the tower?" He began.

"Yeah, except for the A." Ana confirmed.

"Right. Well I was thinking we'd leave it like that… Well the A. I was going to redo it." Tony corrected.

"Just the A?" Alex asked confused.

"Just the A." He confirmed.

"A for Anastasia. Oh papa I love it, maybe we can add flowers, and make it glow gre-" she cut off as she was pushed of the pizza float and into the water.

"You could have just said no." She spluttered.

Taking pity Chryssy and Alex pulled her back up onto the float.

"A for Avengers." Tony announced once they were re-situated.

The girls sent him blank looks.

"I mean there’s a bunch of levels beneath ours that could easily be turned into apartments, it's not like we don't have the space…” Tony explained

"I don't think I understand." Chryssy offered.

"I want to invite the other avengers to stay at the tower. Whenever they're in town I mean." He finished.

The girls were sending him strange looks, and for the first time he couldn't figure out what they meant. Tony looked closer taking a moment to read them. He did know what it meant, he just didn't understand why.

“You don't think it's a good idea." Tony said. "You could meet them if you wanted, you already know two of them." Tony tried.

"I'm not sure I want to meet them." Alex said hesitantly.

"Why not? They wouldn't tell anyone about you guys, if anything they'd help me protect you." Tony explained.

"You trust these people?" Alex questioned.

"Not exclusively, but they have redeeming qualities." Tony joked.

Alex stood a glare marring her usually calm face. "I wouldn't trust them with your life!" She shrieked before vanishing.

Tony looked at the spot she'd just been standing in shock, unable to form words. Eventually he looked to Chryssy and Ana in question.

"Um can we think about it?" Chryssy asked sheepishly.

Tony could only nod, watching as they to disappeared, leaving him alone, and stranded on the pizza float, in his comfortably dry clothes.

He stayed a minute longer contemplating the conversation. Rolling over he looked into the water the bottom of the pool marred only by his reflection.

"What just happened?" He mumbled.

He was so focused he didn't notice the faces until they popped out of the water in front of him.

Tony jerked backwards barely keeping his balance on the float.

The four burst into laughter at him, and he chuckled back.

"You mind helping me?" He questioned.

Athena, Zeus, Poseidon, and, Hades took up positions around the float before they began swimming it towards the nearest wall.

"It's a good idea." Athena announced.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"Offering the other Avengers a home." Hades supplied.

"Yeah that Thor guy, if he comes back? He doesn't have anywhere to go, and I doubt he can use a cellphone." Poseidon continued.

 They reached the edge and the four waited patiently as Tony awkwardly slid across the float and onto the concrete.

"I'm glad someone thinks so". Tony grumbled.

"They think so too, Alex especially!" Poseidon returned defending his sister.

"Did I miss something?" He returned confused.

Oksana who had been sunbathing on a beach chair cut in.

"They are angry, but mostly afraid. You are all they have, talk to them." She added.

"Angry?" he muttered.

"They saw the portal closing, when you were on the other side of it still… Someone had to have made that decision." Oksana explained.

 Finally, Tony nodded in understanding. The greater good was something he understood as an adult, it was the reason he flew the missile into the portal to begin with.

But to his four year olds? Tony let out a huff.

Oksana nodded returning to her sunbathing.

With help from Jarvis he found them in the lab.

The three looked up at his entrance before going back to what they were doing.

“I think we need to have another talk.” Tony announced.

“It’s a good idea.” Alex returned not looking up from her project.

Tony paused. “Is it?”

“Yep.”

“what about what you said earlier?”

“What about it?” she hummed.

“Alex.” He warned.

“Do you want me to take it back?” She questioned.

“No, I want to talk about it.” Tony announced with a grimace. He really didn’t want to, but for his kid? He would. Take that Howard.

“You want me to talk about it? What can I say? You flew a missile into an alien portal.” She said casually.

“It was going to wipe out New York.” he reminded.

“Instead of letting go, you flew into space.” She said pointedly.

“The trajectory wasn’t certain it was the only way I could be sure it stayed on course.”

“Fine, so while you make this life changing sacrifice, the Avengers decide you can take one for the team, and they close the portal, while your still inside of it. While we watch from Malibu.” Alex finished.

“Your right.” Tony said after a minute

“Of course I’m right, wait I am?” Alex said confused at the turn.

“They should have waited, or Thor could have flown up and dragged me back down.” Tony explained.

“Yeah…” Alex murmured.

“I would’ve been trapped. In space.” Tony said with a frown.

Alex nodded.

“But you three saved me.” He continued

“we did.” Ana said with a smile.

“So you have every right to be upset minion. If you don’t want me to invite the Avengers to stay with us, I’d completely understand. I’m sure SHIELD can offer housing to Steve , and Bruce. Well after he decides where he’s going.” He added as an after thought.

“Is he leaving?” Chryssy questioned.

“Probably, he doesn’t think he’d be wanted here, thinks he’s to dangerous.” Tony said with a shrug

“Do you think he’s dangerous?” Ana asked.

“I think anyone can be dangerous, given the circumstance. But as whole, no I don’t think he’s dangerous. I was hoping he’d come work in the labs once they were finished.”

“Oh.” Alex huffed

“And Steve, well, his family is gone. He’s in a new time, and doesn’t really know much about it. But SHIELD will get him caught up.” Tony reassured them.

Alex nodded hesitantly, her sisters sending her strange looks.

“Yeah I guess they would.” She murmured.

“And Thor I’m sure they’d be more than happy to keep him on Shield property. And Natasha and Clint, they’ve probably already got places in shield.”

“How is Uncle Clint?” she queried

“He’s still under evaluation, but I think he’ll be okay.” Tony reassured them.

“Evaluation?” Chryssy questioned.

“Yeah, they want to make sure, that Loki's mind control didn’t have any lasting effects. I heard the other agents are still a bit wary around him, guys got to be going stir crazy.”

“Do you think we could go see him?” Ana asked.

“We can see. I’ll give Nick a call. Glad we could talk.” Tony said before leaving the room.

Chryssy and Ana watched Alex go back to the project until she looked up again.

“What?” she asked.

“You know what.” Chryssy huffed.

“So you’re okay with what they did?” Alex challenged.

“No, but we saved him. Like we always do. and then we move on.” Ana returned.

“I’m just tired of almost losing him.” Alex whined.

“He’s still going to work with them, does it really matter where they do it?” Chryssy asked.

“You think it would be better for them at the tower?” Alex questioned.

“At least he’d be home more often.” Ana reminded.

Alex huffed. “I don’t know if I’m ready to see them.”

“We have our own floor.” Chryssy reminded.

Alex looked at them, one final time.  “Jarvis?”

“Yes miss Alex?”

“Can you tell Papa that I change my mind? I think the Avengers moving into the tower is a great idea, and if it will make him happy, I want him to do it.”

“Very well.” He confirmed.

“There are you two happy?” she grumbled

“Yup!” Alex and Chryssy chorused.

“Good. The Avengers are all forgiven.” She said before going back to work.

“I didn’t say that.” Ana said with a slow smirk.

Alex looked up again. **“I haven’t seen that face in a while sestra. What are you thinking.”**

**“Nothing bad, just a fun little prank.”** She thought with a giggle.

**“Tell us.”** Chryssy pleaded.

By the time she finished telling them the three were giggling madly, and that was when Tony walked in.

“What are you three planning?”

“Nothing!” They shrieked, before bursting into giggles.

“I’m going to pretend that wasn’t suspicious, and let you know that your Uncle has officially said no to your visit to Barton.”

The girls whipped around at that. “What?” Ana hissed

“Unofficially, he says he can watch you this Saturday.”

The girls looked to each other.

“And I will leave you to it.” Tony said before leaving. “Dinner will be ready soon.” He called over his shoulder.

“Jarvis?” Ana called

“Yes?”

“Where do you think they’ll be keeping Uncle Clint?” she asked.

“Accounting for his predicament. Most likely the hospital wing.” He returned.

“It’s worse than I thought!” Ana proclaimed

“J can you schedule a five guys run, on our way to see Uncle Nick?” Alex queried.

“I am afraid to ask why.”

“Hospital food is yucky!!” Ana reminded.

“That is far more innocent than I expected, the stop has been scheduled.” He announced, sounding relieved.

“Very good Jarvis, very good indeed.” Chryssy returned in a British accent.

The weekend arrived and true to his word, Happy stopped at a five guys on the way for a double cheese burger fries and a drink, which the girls carefully poured into a thermos, before placing the meal in Ana's backpack. When they were assigned an agent until Nick could get out his meeting the three quickly ditched him before climbing into the vents of a nearby bathroom. With time to spare the three were situated over the agents hospital room vent.

Voices carried up to their location making them pause.

“Nat I can’t stay here, they keep poking me, and if I eat one more green Jell-O I’m going to puke.”

“You whine too much.” She said in a bored tone.

“Because I’m bored.”

Something pinged, and Natasha stood. “I have to go, stop giving the nurses a hard time, they’re only doing they’re job.”

“You’re worse than I am!” he reminded.

“Big Baby.” She huffed before leaving the room.

“I’m all alone!” Clint whined after her.

“Not necessarily!” Chryssy called from above.

Clint’s head whipped up to the vent. “Who said that?” he questioned with a smirk.

“Your conscience.” Alex said matter of factly while Ana unscrewed the vent.

“Oh conscience, please tell me your brought something to do!” he whined.

“Wow she was right.” Chryssy said with a giggle.

“About what?” Clint questioned

“You are a big baby.” Ana giggled peeking her head out of the vent.  One by one the three dropped down onto the bed..

“Hey you’re not my conscience!!” Clint shrieked.

“Nope, that guy hasn’t been seen in years, besides we are much better!” Ana insisted.

“How so?” Clint questioned suspiciously

Instead of answering she opened her backpack beneath his nose allowing the aroma to float up to him.

“So much better.” He affirmed as he was handed the bag.

“Yup, is this your TV?” Alex questioned looking at the mounted television.

“Yeah why?” he questioned through a mouth full of burger.

“Chew.” Chryssy reminded, as she handed Alex her bag.

“It’s lame, but it will do.” she announced as she got to work.

The three watched her work, Clint finishing off his meal with the Orange soda in the thermos.

“What are you doing over there.” He questioned

“Curing your boredom.” Ana cut in, offering him a controller from her bag.

“Oh Yeah!!” Clint cheered before the four dove into playing the gaming system.

The four were just starting to get competitive, when Alex picked up on something down the hall.

“Hey so you can keep all of this, got it for you, but we gotta go, like now!” Alex announced.

“What? Aww, no!” Clint whined.

The door jingled.

“eeeep!” Ana shrieked.

“No time! Hide!” Chryssy hissed.

The three quickly hid around the room just as the door opened, revealing the Director.

Clint sat up in bed. “Sir.” He greeted, slightly confused

“Agent Barton.” He returned, glancing around the room.

“Are you looking for something?” Clint questioned.

“Where did all this stuff come from?” Nick asked motioning towards the console.

“Uh, I went to sleep, and when I woke up, it was there. I think it was Santa.” Clint offered.

“I think it might have been his elves.” Nick returned. “Are they still here?” he questioned.

“Elves aren’t real sir.” Clint returned.

Nick rolled his one good eye.  “For a spy, you’re a shit liar Barton. Girls you can come out.”

Ana peaked out from beneath the bed. “What do you mean elves aren’t real” she hissed.

“What Agent Barton meant was that elves aren’t real in the summer. In the winter, however, it is prime elf season, and they pop up where ever they please.”

She nodded slowly before looking over at Clint for confirmation. He quickly nodded back.

“Yeah okay.” Ana returned before climbing back onto the bed.

“Where are your sisters?” Nick questioned.

“They want to know if you’re going to make us leave.” Ana returned.

“Tell the-” Nick started

“They can hear you.” Ana cut in.

Nick let out a soft sigh. “No. I got out of my meeting and to my surprise you were not in conference room B with Agent Cromwell.”

“Agent Cromwell is lame!” Ana huffed.

Nick raised an eyebrow at her.

“Chryssy said that.”  She said with a shrug.

“Will the two of you come out, this is ridiculous.” Nick ordered.

“Who twisted up your eye patch?” Chryssy questioned as she opened the closet door.

Clint choked on a laugh, that immediately quelled at the look the director sent him.

“Yeah Uncle Nick, did someone steal your peg leg again. I swear it wasn’t me, no sir ree, I learned my lesson.” Alex chimed coming out from behind a curtain.

“Did you?” he questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

“Wait you have a peg leg?” Clint questioned.

Nick sent him another look. “Of course not!”

“Did you come to play with us?” Ana asked happily.

Clint looked between the four. “Wait, how do you know each other.”

Nick looked at Clint before looking at the girls. “They’re my nieces.”

Clint gasped before looking between them. “No! What? No!” he sputtered.

“Did you not hear us call him Uncle Nick.” Alex questioned with a giggle.

“You call me uncle!” he reminded.

“Well yeah, we like you silly.” Ana returned as if it was obvious.

“I didn’t know you had any siblings, sir.” Clint said.

“That’s classified, but, she died during childbirth.” Nick answered.

Clint stayed quiet occasionally opening his mouth before closing it.

“I thought your Uncle was an agent or something.” He finally said.

“We never said that, but technically he is?” Chryssy offered.

Clint rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Well that explains somethings.” He said thoughtfully.

“Good, now I can finish kicking your butt!” Ana chimed hitting play on her controller.

“Hey no cheating!” the group shrieked.

Nick sat down in a chair beside the bed and Alex immediately climbed into his lap.

Clint watching them out the corner of his eyes.

“I call winner.” Nick challenged.

Clint snorted. Stranger things have happened.

After Clint lost he handed off the controller to Nick who reached into his pocket, pulling out an envelope.

“This came for you today. Figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

“Could you do that?” Alex questioned absentmindedly.

Nick shrugged handing off the envelope, and taking the controller.

Clint took the envelope, noticing the Stark crest in the center. “That man.” Clint huffed.

Chryssy tackled Ana before she could retort, instituting a tickle war between the two.

Clint looked at them questioningly but the two continued their war.

“What do you think he wants?” he questioned.

“Who knows with Stark, Agent Romanoff received one as well.” Nick said with a shrug.

“You’d think he’d just send out a text.” Clint huffed.

Noticing Chryssy’s struggle, Nick cleared his throat. “I think it’s time for us to head out.”

“What! Awww man!” Ana huffed, still pinned beneath Chryssy.

“Yup we can go see what the cafeteria has to eat.” Nick offered.

“Not the hospital section!” Alex shrieked.

“God no, that place horrible.” Nick said with a pointed look at Clint.

“You are a cruel man Director fury.” Barton grumbled.

“See ya later Uncle Clint!” The girls chorused before following Nick out of the room.

“Later!” he called after them, before turning his attention to the letter. “What are you up to Stark?” he murmured.

 

“Wow they work fast!” Alex chorused as they stepped off the elevator.

“Money talks darling.” Tony said by way of an explanation.

“What does it say?” Ana questioned from her position on his hip.

“Something like, the faster you work the more you’ll get.” He said with a chuckle.

Chryssy walked over to the fire place where what looked to be a piece of the old floor was framed. “What is that?”

“I call it fracassé Loki.” Tony said in mock thought.

The group stood around it. 

“Isn’t that where family photos usually go?” Ana questioned

“Pepper’s having it moved to the common area once the photos come in.” Tony affirmed.

“Thought so.” Chryssy said with a giggle.

“So what do you think? New and improved?” Tony asked motioning around them.

“I like it.” Ana said with a shrug.

“Thank you, minion.” Tony returned.

“So when do the defenders get here?” Oksana questioned, from behind them.

“The Avengers! Rogov we talked about this.” Tony retorted.

“Avengers? _it sounds like you've already lost, why not something more up lifting. Like, We'll stop the trouble before it even starts. W.S.T.T.B.I.E.S.”_ she ranted in Russian

“ _That is a horrible name. How would you even pronounce that?”_ Tony returned.

Oksana huffed before sitting down. _“Back in my day no one even knew there was a problem!”_

Tony squinted down at her. “When you say thing like that, it makes me want to question who you are, you know that right?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s why she does it.” Alex said with a shrug.

“To answer your question, Bruce comes in today, Captain spangles later tonight, Thor is being moved from Shield so sometime today and the spysassians, well I assume they’ll just appear.” Tony recited. “You three are sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yup.” Ana affirmed

“Good, because I invited them all to dinner tomorrow.” Tony announced.

“You what!?” Alex shrieked.

“I thought it would be a good way to introduce you after they all settled in.” he explained.

“We’ve got to move up the time frame! Chryssy tell the Quads we need to regroup.” Alex ordered, the three disappearing in an instant.

“What is going on?” Tony questioned, but all that was left was Oksana.

She shrugged. “I shall rein it in.” She said with a nod before leaving the room.

“oka- wait, rein what in? Rogov!? Oksana!” Tony called. “Jarvis what are they planning?”

“My apologies sir, I have been sworn to secrecy.”

“What? how?” Tony queried.

“Override code: Sibling Blood pact” he parroted.

Tony looked up at that. “Wait seriously?”

“Indeed sir.” Jarvis returned gravely.

“I want video Jarvis; I do not want to miss this.” Tony said before striding off to his lab.

 **************************

Alex was walking by the elevator when it dinged, she saw a flash of red and turned with a smile.

“Hey momma I-” She cut off when she got a full look at the woman who was not Pepper closing her much shut with an audible snap.

Natasha looked down startled before composing herself. “Hello.” She greeted not stepping off the elevator. “I must be on the wrong floor.” She said with a perplexed look.

Alex gaped. “Jarvis Close the elevator!” She shrieked.

The elevator closed faster than usual, but still painfully slow as the woman sent her a confused look.

Alex grimaced in apology before running.

“How long should I keep her on the elevator?” Jarvis’ voice followed her around the bend as she ran.

“I didn’t think you’d actually do it!! How should I know.” Alex huffed

“Shall I open it?” he offered

“No! wait til I’m in the room!” She shrieked.

She rounded the corner, throwing herself in the room before slamming the door shut and sliding the lock into place. She let out a sigh of relief resting her head against the door.

“What’s wrong?” Chryssy questioned behind her.

She whirled around with an “Eep!”

“Is everything okay?” Ana questioned from the bed.

“What are you guys doing in here.”

“We live here.” Chryssy reminded.

“Are you going to tell us why you were running?” Ana broke in.

“I just saw The Black Widow!” Alex managed to say between breaths.

“What? What did she say?” Ana asked excitedly.

“Hello.” Alex quoted.

Ana nodded “Okay then what.”

“She said she might be on the wrong floor.” Alex said.

“Okay and what did you say.” Chryssy drawled, confused as to why her sister was dragging this out.

“Um…” Alex hesitated.

“What did you say?” Chryssy pushed.

“I told Jarvis to close the elevator.” She mumbled.

“What?” the two shrieked.

“And then I ran...” Alex added.

Ana and Chryssy looked to each other before bursting into laughter.

“You closed The Black Widow in the elevator?!!” Chryssy managed to say between giggles.

“I freaked out! I thought she was Pepper!” Alex said before gasping in horror.

“What now?!” Ana chortled.

“I called her Momma.” Alex said paling.

The two once again erupted into giggles

“You called The Black Widow Momma? And then closed her in the Elevator?” Ana shrieked through her peals of laughter. She and Chryssy were struggling to stand as tears slid from their eyes.

“Jarvis did you get all that on video?” Chryssy questioned.

“Indeed.” He returned sounding amused.

“Alpha lock it!” Chryssy chimed before Alex could tell him to delete it.

“And send it to my tablet, oh this is too good.” Ana said through a breath.

Alex stood with her arms crossed. “Are you two finished?”

Chryssy and Ana looked up at her again before bursting into giggles. Alex rolled her eyes, and waited.

“Okay, we’re good.” Chryssy said with a sigh.

“So what are you going to do?” Ana questioned.

“Do? Nothing, I’m never leaving this room.” Alex declared

“Or, you could go down and introduce yourself.” Ana exclaimed.

“Or you could do it for me?” Alex asked hopefully.

Before they could reply there was a knock on the door.

Alex let out a shriek before climbing into bed, quickly pulling the covers over her body.

Tony peeked his head in looking at Ana and Chryssy before noticing the lump under the covers.

“Does someone want to tell me why they closed Natasha in the elevator?”

The two looked pointedly at the covers and Tony let out a sigh before moving towards Alex, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“You want to tell me what happened?” he asked gently.

“Nope!” she murmured.

“We could always show him. Jarvis?” Ana giggled out.

“Traitors!” Alex hissed but stayed under the covers.

The TV cut on and the scene played out before them. By then end Chryssy and Ana were once again laughing with tears in their eyes, and Tony was doing his best to hold back his own.

“That wasn’t so bad.” Tony tried.

“Really?” Alex whispered.

“Nah, Natasha was more amused than angry when she found me.”

“Papa, I’d like to take out a loan. I’m moving to Iceland.” She proclaimed.

“Iceland? Why Iceland?” he questioned.

“Because Greenland is the cold one, which really makes no sense, but I heard the views are nice, and no one will look for me there after I swear the three of you into secrecy.” She explained.

“What about Jarvis?” Tony piped.

“Jarvis is cool, and he will keep his computerized mouth shut if he enjoys online gaming.” Alex returned.

“My computerized lips are sealed.” Jarvis confirmed.

Tony looked down at the lump that was his child, before looking skyward. “Look minion, it wasn’t that bad, what’s the big deal?”

“Uh oh.” Chryssy said with a grimace.

“What’s the big deal?” Alex shrieked throwing the covers off, and jumping to her feet. “The big deal, Papa, is that The Black Widow, One of Shields top agents, Uncle Nick’s favorite person to go to when he wants to make new recruits squirm, the woman who can crush a man with her fist and a piece of aluminum foil, AND, the only female member of the Avengers, was on an elevator, And I Alexandria Alyssa Trescott-Stark closed it in her face, But not before calling her Momma, and if that is not shame worthy, then I. DON’T. KNOW. WHAT. IS!” She said squeezing his face between her two tiny hands.

“Well when you say it like that.” Tony muttered.

“Yup, So Chryssy hand me my suitcase, Papa, I’ll take the money in cash. I’ll write, and send you my P.O box number.” She promised

Before she could slide off the bed Tony grabbed her, sitting her beside him.

“Now just hold on a second. If you move out, I’ll miss you too much. We need a new plan.” He decided.

“I am all ears.” She returned.

“Just go down and say hi.” He said after a moment.

“Men! I trusted you, as my father, to come up with an idea. And you have failed me. Thank you Papa. Really.” She said climbing down and going to her dresser. “Chryssy my suitcase please.”

Chryssy sighed before grabbing the suitcase. “We’ll go pack you a snack.” She said before dragging Ana from the room.

Tony looked at her one more time before leaving the room. Once he was out of hearing distance he laughed. “Jarvis, get me Natasha please.”

Alex wrapped herself in lairs of clothes, a scarf firmly tied around her face and a hat hiding her long pigtails.

She waved goodbye to her sisters, thanking them for the lunch box, and Tony helped her put the suitcase in the elevator. With one last wave the door closed, she felt it move, then stop two floors down.

“Jarvis? Why’d we stop?” she groaned.

“Someone called for the elevator.” He said easily.

Alex nodded putting on a pair of black sunglasses just as the doors opened.

Alex was greeted with the sight of The Black Widow for the second time, and she slowly backed away allowing the woman entrance.

“Good afternoon.” Natasha greeted with a perplexed look.

Not knowing what to say Alex gave her a thumbs up.

When the elevator closed but didn’t move, Alex groaned. “Say goodbye to Call of duty Jarvis! You’ll never see it again!” She hissed.

“My apologies, it was your father’s idea.” Jarvis trilled.

Natasha cleared her throat. “I’m sorry if I scared you earlier, I didn’t realize anyone besides Tony would be up there.”

Alex let out a huff. “Please don’t apologize you’re only making this worse.” She murmured.

Natasha looked around before sitting down in the elevator.

Alex watched the movement before sitting down too.

“So that was _you_? I couldn’t tell with all the.” Natasha said motioning to all the layers the girl was wearing.

“Yeah, that was me. and I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to do it, and then Jarvis actually did it. Please don’t hate me?” Alex pleaded.

“I don’t, I wouldn’t…” Natasha trailed off.

The two sat in silence.

“How about we start over. Hi I’m Natasha and you are?” she said after a minute.

“Alexandria, but you can call me Alex, if you’d like?” She proposed.

“I’d like that. Can I ask where you were going dressed like that, in eighty-degree weather?” Natasha queried.

“Iceland.” She returned casually.

Natasha nodded. “Okay.”

“But, it is really hot and I may have tied this scarf too tight.” Alex huffed.

Natasha chuckled slowly reaching towards the child to undo the knot in the scarf.

Alex took off the hat letting her pigtails fall out, and removed the glasses.

“There you are.” Natasha said with a smirk.

“Here I am.” Alex said with a small smile.

“So do your parents work in the building?” Natasha questioned as the elevator began to move. The two standing up as it dinged cutting off Alex’s reply when it opened on the penthouse level.

Tony stood waiting on the other side.

“Actually they own the building.” She returned, stepping off the elevator.

Natasha stiffened before looking over to Tony who had squatted down to be eye level with the little girl.

“There you are, have we given up on Iceland?” Tony questioned.

“Yeah.” She grumbled.

“Thanks for that.” Tony said looking at Natasha who was studying the two.

slowly she said. “You have a daughter?”.

“Actually I have four.” Tony said in thought.

“Four?” Natasha questioned in dismay.

Before they could respond, Hades popped his head over the couch. “Hi.” He said with a wave.

“And a son?” She questioned.

“Three.” Tony said with a chuckle.

“This is… I don’t… how!” she demanded.

“It kind of just happened honestly…” Tony said with a shrug.

“Explain.”

With a huff he did leaving out the mutant part and the fact the four of them spent most of their time as large felines.

“Do the others know?” She questioned, the two seated at the bar, watching as Alex and Hades flipped through the channels

“Why?” Tony questioned suspiciously.

“Tony they live here; you have to tell them.” She replied.

“I will.” He said with a nod

“Well…” Natasha trailed of when Alex cleared her throat beside her

Natasha did not flinch, but she did send Tony a look. He shrugged in response, biting back a chuckle.

“We don’t get to meet new people often, not ones who can know everything, we wanted to have a little fun first.” Alex explained.

Natasha nodded thoughtfully. “Fun?”

Alex nodded.

“I’m in.” Natasha announced

“You are?” Tony questioned.

“Of course. So what’s the plan.” She asked turning to fully face Alex

“Well me, Ana and Chryssy already know uncle Clint.” Alex began.

“Uncle Clint? He knows Tony’s your dad.” She asked.

“No we usually see him around Shield.” she clarified.

“Wait, You’re the reason Clint enjoys going to the New York facility.” She guessed.

“Yup.” Alex affirmed.

“You have an Uncle who works there?” Natasha said after a minute.

Alex nodded hesitantly.

“Okay. What’s your plan?” she asked

“Have you met the Mountain lions.” Alex questioned.

Natasha smirked.

 

Clint plopped onto the couch in Natasha’s living room. Each apartment had two bedrooms, two bathrooms a living area and a kitchen, but still he preferred to stay in Natasha’s. Flipping through the channels, he noticed a movement out the corner of his eye, he turned his head and immediately froze at the sight. Prowling through the kitchen Hades glanced around.

Hades looked towards the archer cocking his head to the side.

“Nat!?” Clint called.

“What?” she answered from the bedroom.

“There is a Mountain Lion in your kitchen!” he squawked.

“Hmm.” Natasha came into the room looking into the kitchen. “Yeah.”

“That is the craziest thing you’ve brought home.” He exclaimed with wide eyes.

“It’s not mine.” Natasha returned as Hades walked towards her.

Clint Scooted away to the other end of the couch. “Then who’s is it?”

“Stark’s, I’m cat sitting.” She said with a smile scratching beneath Hades’ chin. The cougar let out a loud purr and Clint shivered.

“Relax he’s harmless.” She chided.

Hades looked over to him and began to walk closer.

Refusing to break eye contact, Clint spluttered. “What’s he doing? Where’s he going?”

“would you look at that… I think he likes you.” Natasha said with a smirk.

Hades purred louder as he brushed by Clint’s legs.

Clint Stayed frozen.

“Come on boy, let’s see if your brothers are hungry?” She said leading him to the elevator.

“Brothers? As in plural? Nat? Natasha?!” Clint called as the elevator doors slid shut.

***********************************************

Athena stood waiting in the elevator when it opened, smiling brightly up at Steve.

“Uh hi.” Steve said with a hesitant smile.

“Hello, what floor please?” She questioned.

Steve looked to the side of the elevator, and found that there weren’t any buttons to push. He looked at it perplexed.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“Don’t these things usually have numbered buttons?” he said with a frown.

“Probably, Mr. Stark prefers it this way. Do you know your floor number?” she questioned again.

“Uh no, no I don’t, I just got an invitation from, Tony.” He explained.

Athena smiled before looking up to the ceiling. “Jarvis could you take us to Mr. Steve’s floor?”

“Very well miss.”

“Thanks.” She looked back over to Steve, who was looking questioningly at the ceiling.

“That’s Jarvis.” She introduced.

“So I’ve been told.” He said with a small grin.

The elevator dinged.

“I guess this is my floor?” he asked, looking down at the small child.

“Would you like me to show you around?” Athena questioned.

Steve stepped off the elevator expecting it to close behind him, when it stayed open and the child continued to wait patiently for his answer, he said

“Are you here with somebody?”

“Of course!” Athena said with a smile.

“And do they know that your…” he motioned to the elevator.

“More or less.” She affirmed.

“Is it okay for you to be talking to strangers?” He asked, genuinely looking curious.

Athena sent him a perplexed look.

“You’re not a stranger. You're Steve.” She told him

“Just Steve?” he questioned.

“Jarvis what’s Steve’s last name again?” she asked.

“Rogers.” Jarvis provided.

“Right! you're Steve Rogers.” Athena said happily.

Steve huffed out a laugh.

“I think I’ll find my own way, thanks though.” He told her

“Of course, if you have any questions, just ask Jarvis.” Athena returned, the doors closing as she waved goodbye.

Hades and Poseidon were in the raptors of the gym when Thor and Steve came in. Steve showed Thor the punching bags Tony had created, and after he was situated stepped onto a treadmill.

Hades looked to Poseidon and the sibling sported matching smirks, that somehow wasn’t lost in their cougar forms. They positioned themselves behind the God just as they heard the elevator ding. Knowing now was their time, with a growl the two pounced.

“No!” Ana shrieked.

Thor whirled around catching both cougars around the midsection. They growled in outrage at being thwarted.

“Fear not, small lady, Brother Stark has warned me of the housecats prowling tendencies.” Thor bellowed.

“House cats?” Steve choked, having hopped off of the treadmill at Ana's cry.

Thor swung the two cougars around holding one under each arm.

“You two are in so much trouble!” Ana giggled.

The two reached out to her comically with their large paws as Thor continued to spin.

“Actually.” She said thoughtfully, before running at the large god. She slammed into his back wrapping her arms around his neck. “Faster!!!” She giggled.

Thor obliged, and Steve looked on confused at the turn of events.

Thor sat them down and the three struggled to stay on their feet.

“Do you need some help?” Steve questioned.

“That’d be great.” Ana allowed, giving up her struggle and flopping onto the ground.

“I’ll grab the house cats.” Thor said with a hearty chuckle.

Steve laughed picking Ana up in a fireman’s carry. “Those are not House cats.” He denied.

“They’re catlike.” Ana defended. “How long before the world stops spinning?”

“Where are we taking you?” Thor said with a chuckle as they stepped onto the elevator.

“Jarvis.” Ana groaned.

The door opened on the common room floor, and they sat the three on the couch.

“You’re the second kid I’ve seen in the tower, is there a daycare in here or something.” Steve asked with a smile.

“There might be.” Ana said. “Well thanks for the ride. Come on boys!” She called, the elevator opening automatically. “See you around!”

“Who was that?” Steve questioned.

“I have no idea.” Thor returned. “Shall we return to our spar?” He questioned.

Steve nodded, before following him to the elevator.

******************************************************

The girls continued their tirade the next day, popping up in random places, while the triplets carefully avoiding Clint.

Alex strode into the common area with Poseidon by her side. The only other occupant was Steve and he sat staring at the Blank flat screen in the corner.

Alex looked over before climbing into the stool.

Steve looked up at the noise. “Oh hey, I saw you yesterday.”

Alex looked over confused glancing down at Poseidon.

“In the gym, with Thor?” he returned.

Realization dawned on Alex and she smirked. “Oh! How are you Mr. Steve?”

“I’m doing alright, and you are? I didn’t get your name yesterday.”

Alex’s smile grew at that. “I’m Alex.” She told him.

“So Mr. Steve-“

“Just Steve.” He offered

“Okay Uncle Steve.” Alex corrected, earning soft smile from the man.

“So is there a daycare here?” he cut in.

“No. why would you say that?” Alex questioned

“I didn’t think Stark Tower would have kids just running around, and you’re the second one I’ve seen.”

Alex nodded.

“so what are you guys doing here.” Steve pushed

“Our parents work here.” she huffed

“So Tony just lets you run free around his tower?” he questioned

Alex snorted.

“Something like that.” She returned.

“Excuse my interruption, Ms. Alex your father requests your presence in the lab.” Jarvis announced.

“see you later!” She said with a wave hopping down from her stool. “Let’s go Poseidon.”

Steve watched her leave before re-situating himself in front of the TV.   

 ********************************************

Alex and Ana moved swiftly around the lab goggles pulled down over their eyes.

“Athena how’s the connection?” Chryssy called.

“All connections appear to be stable.” she returned.

“Good, Jarvis pull down the blast shield.” Ana ordered.

“I insist you call your father.” Jarvis began.

“it’s nothing J,” Alex placated.

“If its all the same, then alerting Sir to your project shouldn’t be an issue.” Jarvis challenged.

“J you worry too much!” Alex grumbled “Fine you can tell him.”

“Chryssy do it!” Ana called.

Chryssy’s eyes began to glow and outside the clouds began to darken the sky as thunder began to roll in.

Alex glanced happily at the display, before moving to stand beside her brothers.

 

The Avengers were in a group meeting three stories below, oblivious to the happenings above them. Director Fury droned on about how the Avengers would be proceeding from here on out. Clint stood to stretch going to stand at the floor to ceiling windows that took up a corner of the walls. He frowned at what he saw.

“I don’t remember this being in the forecast.” He murmured.

At this the rest looked over, Steve coming to stand to the side of him.

“Thor is this you?” Steve questioned, raising a brow when thunder boomed.

Thor shook his head in confusion. “This is not my doing brother Steven.”

Tony looked up at that just as his phone chimed, he let out a curse when lightning struck the side of the building, around them the lights flickered before going steady.

The group jumped back, and Tony jumped to his feet. “Anybody else need a break?” He called before jetting from the room.  He ignored the shouts of his team as he dove into the waiting elevator.

Alex winced at the reverberations. “That was really loud.”

The group stepped towards the table watching the lighting settle into the device.

Before they could speak the door to the lab opened and an out of breath Tony stepped through.

“What did I say about projects needing lighting?” he huffed.

“They’re level 4 and need adult supervision.” Poseidon offered.

“Thank you, why?” Tony demanded

“Uncle Nick’s Birthday is coming up, and we wanted to make him something.” Ana rushed out.

The team chose that moment to burst into the lab, causing the Starks to freeze.

The group slowly looked around at the oddly colorful lab, taking in the seven kids wearing lab coats and goggles.

“Your device is holding steady.” Jarvis chimed, breaking the silence.

“Tony?” Steve prompted

“uh, cats out of the bag, Minions meet the team, team meet the minions?” he said with

 “Minions? Is that why there’s always kids running around the tower? Because you hired them?” Steve began sending Tony disapproving looks.

“They’re my kids cap, not hired help.” Tony huffed crossing his arms.

The team whipped around at that. “Kids?” Steve blurted.

“Of all the scenarios that you came up with, was Tony being their dad not one of them?” Bruce questioned. “It’s good to see you again girls.”

The girls ran forward at that, engulfing Bruce in a group hug he looked distraught over at Tony, who sent him a smirk in response.

“Uncle Bruce we missed you so much!” Ana giggled

“Wait you knew about this?” Steve questioned.

“I know the girls, them being Tony’s daughters? honestly it’s not all that surprising.” Bruce said with a chuckle, slowly  relaxing into the embrace. “What were you working on?”

“I guess it’s a Swiss army knife of sorts.” Chryssy offered with a shrug.

“You let them work with knives?” Clint questioned.

“Of course not!” Tony huffed going to examine the device. “No actual knives were involved, they mean the variety it brings, in compact form.”

Ana smiled brightly. “Yeah! But since we aren’t allowed to use fire directly,”

“We used it indirectly!” Alex provided.

The team came in closer to look over the device as Tony picked it up. “Has it been tested?”

“Would you like to do the honors?” Ana bounced excitedly.

It looked like a flashlight and upon seeing no on and off switch he twisted the outer rim, the first click had a steady flame flare to life. Tony nodded his head appreciatively before twisting it farther. With the click Electricity came to life as it sparked from the tiny device.

Natasha who’d been silent caught sight of an engraving on the side, T3 Production.

“Wait, T3 Production?” she questioned.

“The girls came up with it, Trescott’s three. It’s their brand.” Tony said with a shrug.

“My widow bites?” She questioned.

“That was one of my favorites, coming up with something to actually hold the lightning, that was tricky!” Chryssy announced.

“Lightning?” Natasha gaped.

“Yeah, what did you think it was?” Alex questioned.

“I do not see a device to wield lightning.” Thor cut in.

The girls looked to Tony who shrugged.

Ana held up her fingers and wiggled them like jazz hands.

Thor knelt down in front of her, still heads taller than the small child. “You can wield lightning?”

“The three of us can, among other things.” She offered.

Thor smiled down at her, “You must show me sometime, Small lady!”

The three giggled, nodding happily.

“You made Tash a lightning Taser?!” Clint squawked.

“It was a gift for helping Papa.”  Alex said with a shrug.

“That was a Russian man.” Natasha challenged.

“Voice changer.” Ana said.

“The Russian?” Natasha asked.

_“It is a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Black Widow.”_ Chryssy chimed in Russian.

Natasha stared down at her wide eyed, and Chryssy let out another giggle.

Tony took in a deep breath before picking up Chryssy unsure of the meaning of the look Natasha was sending his child. “Looks like it’s time for actual introductions, we have the triplets.” He began grouping the three together, who’d finally taken off the goggles. “Chryssandra, Alexandria, and Anastasia.”

“Chryssy.”

“Alex.”

“Ana.”

They chimed.

“Identical triplets?” Natasha questioned, another odd look forming.

“Yes," Tony drawled. "And then we have the quadruplets, Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, and Athena.”

“After the Greek gods?” Steve questioned perplexed.

“In our defense, they were cougars when we found them.” Ana interrupted.

“Cougars? The ones around the tower?” Clint questioned.

“Mhm, they’re cougars most of the time, but they’ve been holding their human forms longer each day.” Tony announced proudly. “There you have it. All seven accounted for.”

“Wait the triplets are, not only Director Fury’s nieces, but you daughters?” Clint questioned.

“Wait what?” Natasha interrupted. “Biologically? That’s impossible.”

“Not really, our mom was his sister!” Ana explained.

“The Director has a sister?” Steve questioned looking like the universe had shifted once again.

“We can discuss that later” Tony cut in. “Girls no more lighting inside the Tower, get cleaned up for dinner.” He said before ushering the team out of the room.

The team reconvened in the meeting room. They all watched Tony as he situated himself in his seat. “I will tell you everything, but you need to understand that the kids have been kept a secret up until this point. I was hoping you’d help me keep them that way.”

“We won’t say anything, but we do have some questions.” Steve returned.

Tony sighed. “Their Mom?”

The group nodded.

“Legally Pepper adopted them, their biological mom was Annalise Trescott. We met at a party five years ago, you can imagine however you’d like what happened after. I got a call from a hospital in New York eight months later. Apparently there were complications during the birth, and Anna didn’t make it. So that left me with the girls. I don’t think I would have made it without Happy and Rhodey’s Help. Pepper came into the picture a few years later. And then the cougars. We were on a hiking trip when the girls went too far into the woods. They had hunters on their tails and tiny cougar cubs in their arms. They talked me into letting them keep all four instead of turning them over to the wildlife association. Said they were magic or something. Things settled down for a while and then some crazy photographer triggered the girls X-gene. Almost whiped the estate off the cliff.” Tony said with a shiver.

“I do not understand.” Thor interrupted.

“Right, on earth there are people called mutants they carry a gene that can give them inhuman abilities. The girls are called Nature Manipulators, they can control the elements hence the thunder storm.”

“Does this X-gene not appear on it own?” Thor questioned.

“It usually does, but some stay dormant the photographer did something to activate it.” Tony paused. “And then you have the cougars.” Tony huffed. “up until a few months ago they were just that, nearly gave Rogov a heart attack.”

“Rogov?” Steve questioned.

“Our other tower guest, She’s the kid’s instructor, and they’re adopted grandmother. You’ll probably meet her at dinner. Speaking of, you’re all invited to pasta night.” Tony offered before leaving the room.

The team slowly trickled in watching as Tony worked around the kitchen.

“It’s kind of freaking me out.” Clint whispered to Natasha.

Steve chuckled before stepping forward. “Need any help?”

Tony motioned for them to take the food over to the dining room table which was large enough to seat them all.

“Where are the kids?” Clint questioned.

“They should be on their way down with Rogov, she decided to slip in a late rehearsal.”

“Rehearsal for what?” Natasha questioned.

“Competition!” Ana roared from her seat at the table.

The team whirled around at her appearance.

“Minions you’re here” Tony cheered, non-pulsed. “Where’s Rogov?”

“Here.” Oksana called from the door way.

“Good, Avengers meet Oksana Rogov.” Tony introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? I honestly loved writing the part where Natasha meets Alex. Tell me what you thought, your feedback keeps me going!! Thank you so much for reading!!


	27. A Christmas Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!! I finally posted!! sorry it took so long!! This work is unbeta'd so please excuse any mistakes!! I hope you enjoy it!

_“Good, Avengers meet Oksana Rogov.”_

Oksana looked around the room with a nod. “Good luck.” she warned with a smirk before taking a seat beside the triplets.

The group chuckled before joining them at the table and soon the sound of silverware hitting plates filled the room.

Oksana looked up when she felt eyes on her, a set of green eyes. She let out a gasp. “Natalia?”

Natasha suppressed a flinch, at the name, before slowly nodding.

_“You made it?”_ She whispered in Russian standing from her seat. Slowly she made her way over to the not so little girl who’d haunted her dreams.

_“I escaped.”_ Natasha murmured.

_“How?”_  

Natasha glanced over at Clint who smiled sheepishly at the older woman.

“Wait you two know each other?” Steve questioned from across the table.

Slowly Natasha nods. “Yes, she was a Dance teacher in the Red Room.” She announces.

“You mean she’s-” Clint started

“I think there’s a story that needs to be told.” Tony said calmly, a slight glint in his eye. He was trying to stay calm. He’d known Oksana had a story, she’d never told him about it, but after vetting her and a personal sit down with the woman she’d come back clean. Tony didn’t make mistakes when it came to the girls.

“Yes there is.” Oksana said with a sigh. She felt a hand slide into her own, glancing down she looked over at Natasha who sent her an encouraging nod. She waited pointedly until the standing members of the Avengers retook their seats before beginning her tale.

 “Before I came to this country, I taught at what was supposed to be a school for girls. I teach them what I teach you.” She said nodding to the kids.  “As I stayed on some of my girls would show up with bruises. When I asked them, what happened, they would say ‘ _only the strong survive.’”_

The group barely took notice as the woman continued the story in Russian, Thor’s Allspeak easily converted the language. Clint being Natasha’s partner was already fluent and Steve had his fair share of languages, not only from his enhanced mind giving him an ear for languages, but from his time on tour with girls of different backgrounds most willing to share their culture with anyone who’d listen. Bruce looked down as Tony handed him a tablet, a live translation appearing on the screen as the woman spoke. He sent Tony a thankful smile before focusing on the screen.

_“I go to the headmistress and ask what is happening to the girls, I tell her, sometimes the girls are wrapped in bandages, other times split lips, sometimes worse, I mention that one of the instructors must be hurting them. The woman, she only laughs, she tells me-_

_“These girls go through rigorous training in hopes to be the best, they do it for their country.”  That they do this to each other.”_ Oksana emphasizes with sad eyes.

_Eventually my girls, one by one, they stop coming to class when I ask, again they say “Only the strong survive.” I think to myself. “What kind of school is this? I must try to help them.  When I try, these men come to my studio with guns, I ask what they want, they tell me not to interfere and to continue to teach. I yell “They are children, just little girls, you can’t do this to them!” One of the men he steps forward and raises the butt of his gun, he spits at me “It is their duty.” When I wake, I’m tied down. I spare you the details, but they tortured me until I agreed to continue to teach, and to not interfere. I agree of course, And my girls they continue to disappear, until there are four. Not little girls per say but still young. Still I continue to teach them until finally there is one. Little Natalia I called her, she comes in for practice alone. I ask what has happened and she tells me, “I have survived.” So, I continue to teach her until she doesn’t come anymore. So once again I go to the headmistress. I tell her there are no more girls, there is no one to teach. And finally, she explains. This school,”_ Oksana spits the word like it’s poison. _“Was designed to find the perfect girl to carry out Russia’s demands, their personal weapon. She says my services are no longer needed. So, I pack my things and I leave, I only get so far before someone stops me, he pulls out a gun. I know too much, he tells me. When the shot rings out I close my eyes and wait, when I hear him fall to the ground I open my eyes to see my Little Natalia, standing behind the man. She tells me to run, far and fast because they will find me. When I ask her why she helped me, she gives me a heartbreaking smile “You remind me of home.” She says. I tell her to come with me that she doesn’t have to stay. She reminds me that she does, “I am their weapon, and they will only search harder if I go with you.”_

_“So I Leave.”_ She said with a shrug, wiping away a tear that slid down her cheek _. “I didn’t end up in America until years later.”_

The group looked on in silence, no one really sure what to say.

“Well then.” Tony chirped with a small smile, breaking the silence that had taken over after Oksana had finished. “It seems we have reason to celebrate, luckily there is dessert!”

The girls quickly scooted down the line so Oksana could sit beside Natasha. Chryssy happily patted the chair for the woman to sit down.

 

A few weeks later Natasha found herself following the sounds of a piano into the studio Tony had made for Oksana and the kids. She watched through a glass window as Oksana led the girls through a Pas de Quatre. The boys sat off to the side stretching.

“Point you toes, Anastasia! Good!” Oksana called out.

Natasha waited until they took a break to knock on the door.

The kids waived excitedly, as she came over.

“They’re good.” Natasha prompted.

“That was just the warm up.” Oksana said with a smirk.

“Really?” Natasha questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“They like Ballet, they love Cirque du soleil.” She returned with a shrug. She motioned for Natasha to have a seat on one of the benches before gathering her students.

At the end Oksana noticed a gleam in Natasha’s eye, and with a soft smile she motioned her over, taking in the convenient spandex she was wearing.

“Do you remember how to stretch?” Oksana asked.

Natasha nodded slightly confused before realization dawned on her. “I couldn’t”

Oksana only smirked before turning to her kids. “Natasha is going to go through cool down stretches with you.” she announced before going to the piano situated in the corner.

Natasha watched with a glare as music once again filled the studio. When she turned around it was to the kids patiently waiting in formation for her to begin. Alex sent her reassuring smile, and with a huff Natasha began. A small part of her content in practicing the art she’d always admired.

**************

The triplets watched Steve on the feed of the common room. He looked around the room for the zillionth time and Ana had had enough.

“That’s it!” she called out before disappearing from the penthouse living room leaving her sisters watching from the feed.

“Hey Uncle Steve!” she called.

The man startled from his position on the couch, before sending her a smile. “Hey”

“What cha doin?” She prompted.

“I was just… Nothing.” He said with a sad smile.

“Why?”

He only shrugged.

“Do you want to watch TV?”

“I’m not sure.” He said with a shrug.

Ana nodded thoughtfully. “Did they have movies and stuff when you were a kid?” She questioned.

“Not much when I was a kid, but there were movies when I was older, could barely afford them.”

“What movie?” she questioned excited.

“well, there was Frankenstein, Ma saved up money for me to go see it with Bucky. The Wizard of oz.” he listed.

“Then let’s start there.” She decided.

“Start where?” he asked.

“From what you remember, we can work our way up to the present. Jarvis?” she called.

A screen dropped down from the ceiling as it lit up with the opening title of Frankenstein on pause. Ana grabbed his hand, and he let her drag him to his feet. She pulled him to the kitchen with a smile. “But first we need popcorn!” she announced pointing to a cabinet over the stove.

He pulled out the box before handing it to her. She quickly pulled out a bag before pointing to the microwave.

Steve grimaced “They tried to show me how to use one at the shield facility, but..” he trailed off.

“I’ll show you. give me a boost please!”

Steve hesitantly picked her up, and she easily situated herself on his hip.

“Now put the popcorn in.” she began, handing him the bag.

“How do you open the door?” he questioned after a minute of staring at the contraption.

“Some doors you just pull open, some there’s a button in the bottom corner that you push. Ours you just pull on the handle.” She explained reaching forward to yank on the handle.

Steve nodded, dropping the bag of popcorn into the microwave.

“Make sure you put it in the middle.” She corrected.

Steve situated the bag before looking at her. She nodded approvingly before motioning for him to shut the door.

“Now timing is key. Most microwaves have a popcorn button, but, not all of them pop the perfect bag of popcorn. Lucky for us, this one has gone through rigorous testing. So, you can just push the button that says popcorn.”

Steve once again nodded before tapping the button. A few seconds went by, but before he could question it, the light came on and a light hum came from the device.

“Get a load of that.” Steve murmured.

“Yep, don’t stand to close, Papa said it’s bad for you” suddenly her eyes lit up “Drinks! We need Soda!” she cheered, pointing to the fridge.

Steve grabbed two cans handing one off to her as he did.

“My cups in the big cabinet.” She announced.

Steve followed her direction, opening the cabinet and finding a shelf full of kid’s cups.

“The green one.” She prompted.

He sat her down on the side of the counter as he poured the soda into the cup, and she swung her legs happily.

“So whose Bucky?” She questioned.

Steve stiffened but caught himself before he could spill the soda. “Uh, he was my best friend.”

“Oh.” Ana returned, noting the way he said was, like grandma Peggy sometimes did when she talked about stuff. “What was he like?” She questioned.

“Bucky was, he was great, got me out of a lot of tuff situations I had no business being in.” he said with a sad smile.

Before she could ask more the microwave dinged.

Popcorn now in a bowl the two situated themselves on the couch.

“Ja-” she began only to cut off when the couch dipped. “It’s about time you two showed up.” She giggled. As Chryssy and Alex situated themselves beside her and Steve. Steve chuckled before settling in as the opening credits began to play.

************

Steve tried to hold it back but the tickle grew stronger and stronger. The girls watched on eagerly as he finally lost the battle with his nose. A loud “Achoo.” Echoing through the common room.

“God Bless America!” Ana shrieked, the girls erupted into a fit of giggles, before beginning to march around him.

To Steve’s dismay, the Stars and Stripes forever anthem began to play in the room.

“Hooray for the Red white and blue!!” They sang.

Slowly Steve began to chuckle until it turned in to a full-on belly laugh, after a minute he pulled himself together. He began to march in place before leading the girls down halls.

Clint peaked down out of a vent at the commotion as they marched down the corridor, in a deft move he fell into step behind the girls.

A confused Bruce peaked out of the door to his suite, before a small smile took over his face. As they continued to march toward him he stepped fully out of his room standing at attention he placed his right hand over his heart. Steve gave him a salute as he passed the girls and Clint doing the same as they continued their parade around the tower.

***********

As the night sky lit up with lightning once more Tony looked over at Thor. “Is this you, big guy?”

Thor only shook his head.

Before Tony could continue the elevator doors opened and the three girls rushed out.

“Papa can we play on the roof?” Alex questioned.

Steve looked over confused. Tony looked outside before nodding. “Put on a jacket.”

The three cheered happily before running back to the elevator. “I’ll grab the trebuchet!” Ana called.

Clint looked up at that. “They have a trebuchet!!”

Tony chuckled before leading Clint and Thor after the girls. As they grew closer to the roof, the commotion drew louder and louder.

“Pull!” Ana’s voice echoed from the far side of the roof.

Chryssy pulled the release lever sending a medium sized black ball soaring into the air.

Arms already out Alex redirected a lightning strike at the object, disintegrating it with the pass.

Ana cheered happily as thunder roared triumphantly around them.                             

Thor laughed merrily before striding over. “I would like to take part in your activities!” he called.

“On your mark!” Chryssy called.

“Pull!” Ana yelled.

Thor raised his hammer, as lightning lit up the sky he directed a lightning strike at the object. The girls cheered him on as Chryssy sent multiple objects at once, Thor hitting each one with practiced precision.

Tony and Clint watched amused from the sidelines, until Tony called it a night.

The group entered the common room talking boisterously, until Thor knelt down on one knee.

“Shield Brother Stark, it Would be an honor for me to call your children my nieces in Lightning!”

Tony looked to the still kneeling Asgardian, and then to his daughters faces that quickly went from shock to enthusiastically hopeful.

Tony snorted. “Why not? Welcome to the family.”

Thor scooped the girls up happily into a hug, his excitement as clears as the girls.

************

As of late the tower residents had become dispersed. Natasha and Steve had been moved to DC, Clint was off on an assignment, Thor was visiting Jane, the Starks themselves were back at the Malibu mansion.

The girls sat in their room waiting, the second Tony had mentioned the process of inserting the sensors into his skin the three had paled.

“Well how else am I going to insert them?” he’d questioned

“I don’t know, osmosis?” Ana questioned.

Tony sent her a look. “Until I am capable of such feats, this will have to do for now.” He said with a chuckle

“Call us when you’re ready” Alex said with a grimace, grabbing her sisters she vanished without another word.

It wasn’t long before Tony called for the three of them. They sat back excitedly on one of the workbenches.

“I’ve prepared a briefing for you to entirely ignore.” Jarvis chimed

“Which I will.” Tony chirped.

Chryssy rolled her eyes, bringing up the information to read through. “It says here you should stabilize the speed it comes to you.” she chimed.

“Jarvis can handle it, right J?” Tony called.

“It would be my genuine pleasure.” Jarvis affirmed.

Tony was on his third all-nighter and failed to detect the hint of malice Jarvis had inflicted, the girls however looked up worried.

“Maybe you should listen to Jarvis Papa, we can run some test, recalibrate the sensors…” Alex began.

“Sometimes you’ve gotta run before you can walk.” Tony offered.

“Isn’t that the same thing you said before you fell through the ceiling?” Ana countered.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. And that hole gave me the necessary space for the remodel.” Tony clapped once before striding towards the center of the room. “All right let’s do this.” He announced before anyone else could comment.

Dum-E chirped from his position in the corner of the room. A Dunce hat situated over his head. The girls spent half the afternoon chasing him to try and remove it but it seemed after U had placed the hat on him he’d grown attached.

“Dum-E you’re officially out of time out, don’t give me that, you know what you did. There’s blood on my mat. Can you handle cleaning it up?” Tony called before turning to the Girls. Alex held up the camera.

“Sir might I remind you that you’ve been up for nearly 72 hours?”

Tony dutifully ignored him turning to the camera. “Focus up ladies, Good evening and welcome to the birthing suite.”

Chryssy wrinkled her nose at the terminology but stayed quiet, intent on reading through manual.

“I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing Bad-ass baby brother.”

Taking their cue, they cheered halfheartedly, getting a look from Tony. “I knew I should have used a prerecorded track.” He murmured. “Start tight and go wide. Stamp date and Time” He ordered U who’d also been given a camera to record the momentous occasion. Finished cleaning up the mat Dum-e grabbed his fire extinguisher before rolling over. Tony sent him a warning glare before starting.

“Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test.” He said into the camera “Initialize sequence.”

Around them mechanics began to whirl to life. Looking around Chryssy took notice to how the pieces were dispersed around the room. Looking down at the manual she noted the chapter on calling for the suit. It instructed for the suit pieces to be near each other but ideally in one piece before initiating the protocol to minimize obstacles. Chryssy grimaced before using her wind to push their rolling chairs farther away from Tony who only spared her a raised eyebrow. She smiled encouragingly before watching the madness take place.

As Christmas music began to play through the lab the first piece rose up before bee-lining towards Tony, who grunted upon impact. The girls winced as more pieces flew towards their dad like a homing device.

“Probably a little fast?” Tony called out, the girls could only nod in awe. “Slow it down.”

Jarvis seemed to pay him no heed as the pieces seemed to speed up. Ana was biting back giggles as Tony’s shouts grew panicked.

“Cool it will you Jarvis?” he ordered.

Suddenly the music came to a halt with a scratch. The face mask floating menacingly across the room seemed to glare at Tony. The girls looked comically between the mask and Tony as they had a stared down.

“Come on! I ain’t scared of you!” Tony called.

As if the proverbial red cape had been waived the mask darted forward clipping on the edge of the table to right itself into the proper position without slowing down. Tony did a roundhouse in the air, the face mask connecting with a loud clang as he landed in his classic stance. The girls cheered happily as he stated. “I’m the best.” His signature smirk in place.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the last piece of the suit hit him full force in the backside. He fell to the floor in a heap as the suit collapsed around him.

“As always it was a pleasure working with you Sir.” Jarvis announced over Tony’s groans.

“Maybe you should listen to Jarvis more.” Alex said with a giggle as they walked over to him.

“You’re bleeding.” Chryssy told him, handing over the antiseptic and bandages she had nearby.

“If we’re done stating the obvious?” he questioned.

Ana shrugged taping the keys on the tablet in her hand, the group watched as the suit assembled before walking into its holding chamber.

“That’s both weird and cool.” Alex announced.

“Are there any Stark’s in the house?” A voice called.

The group froze.

“Uncle Rhodey!” The girls chimed, getting ready to run upstairs.

“Don’t leave me minions!” Tony shouted, his arm outstretched in the air.

The girls made a wide arc before running back to him, together they vanished and reappeared in the living room. Leaving Tony on the floor they ran to Rhodey.

“Oh man you girls are getting big!” he cheered catching the three in a hug.

Just as he spoke the doorbell rang.

“Good thing I ordered a pizza!” Tony said through a yawn.

The group dove into details about the happenings while he was away, from the invasion to the towers dispersed residents.

After putting the girls down for bed Tony and Rhodey sat back with a glass of whiskey.

“So what’s really going on with this Mandarin?” Tony questioned.

“It’s classified Tony.” Rhodey stated.

Tony sent him a look, waiting.

“Okay, there have been nine bombings.” He admitted after a moment.

“Nine?” Tony repeated.

Rhodey nodded with a sigh “The public only knows about three.” Rhodey placated. “But the thing is, nobody can ID a device. There’s no bomb casings.” His frustration with the situation clear as he stared down into his glass.

“You know, I can help” Tony tried. “Just ask.”

“When’s the last time you got a good night’s sleep?” Rhodey interrupted.

Tony shrugged. “The nights that I do, I think it’s the girls. No one really knows the extent of their mutation.” He said thoughtfully.

“And when they don’t? you went through a lot Tony; PTSD isn’t something you want to deal with alone. And you don’t have to.” Rhodey voiced.

Tony hummed thoughtfully before draining his glass. “Your rooms still set up, don’t stay up too late we’re having waffles for breakfast.”

Rhodey nodded before emptying his glass and heading up for the night letting the subject drop for now.

Half way through the night Ana woke with a shiver, eyes squeezed shut, she felt down for her covers only to find them missing. With a huff, she peeked over at Chryssy curled up in a cocoon of blankets. Ana immediately perked up before squeezing into the space with her sister. Chryssy only spared her a tired glare before scooting over to make room. Ana continued her movements until she was comfortably situated.

“Are you done yet?” Chryssy grumbled

“Almost.” Ana returned.

Chryssy looked over with a raised eyebrow as Ana drew nearer. She let out a giggle when she smacked a loud kiss to her cheek.

“Good night!!” The two chorused before closing their eyes.

“Did you hear that?” Ana questioned after a moment.

“hear wha-” Chryssy cut off when she heard the sound of muffled screams coming from down the hall.

In seconds the girls were out of bed, a previously asleep Alex wide eyed. Quickly the three crept down the hall towards the sounds coming out of Tony’s room.  Pushing the door open the three crawled into the bed watching as Tony held one of his many pillows in a vice grip. Athena glanced worriedly from Tony to the girls in her cougar from, quiet whines escaping anytime Tony made a noise of distress.  Alex quickly placed a cooling hand over his forehead the sound of calming waters encompassing the room. Tony’s face relaxed minutely going from confusion to relaxed in a matter of minutes.

The girls watched him a minute longer before curling up around him, creating a cocoon of serenity to help their dad sleep through the night.

The next day Pepper and Happy arrived back from her business trip, just in time to help decorate. The girls squealed excitedly as Tony, in the Iron Man suit, brought in the large tree they’d picked out. Together he and Rhodey, also wearing the war machine suit, set up the stand in a corner of the living room. With Christmas music playing throughout the house the family began decorating. As they finished, with this year’s Christmas Photo situated over the mantle, the kids laid out on the floor as they wrote out their Christmas list for Santa Claus. Being that this would be the cougars first Christmas as humans they were having some trouble understanding the concept.

“So this fat guy sneaks into our house while we’re all sleeping.. to leave us presents?” Poseidon questioned dubiously.

“ _Santa Claus_ comes in through the chimney, with a bag full of presents and leaves them under the tree.” Ana confirmed.

“But why?” Zeus questioned.

“Because we’ve been good all year.” Ana returned.

“I’m pretty sure you guys play too many pranks to end up on this ‘nice’ list, it’s more likely that we’ll all be on the naughty list.” Athena announced thoughtfully.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.” Ana chirped, before continuing her list.

The group giggled, sealing their envelopes, they stacked their list on the coffee table before turning their attention to the Charlie brown Christmas special currently on the TV.

“But what about houses that don’t have chimneys?” Hades said after a minute.

Alex looked over at him thoughtfully. “Jarvis how _does_ Santa get into houses that don’t have chimneys.”

Conversation stopped flowing around them as the adults sent panicked looks to Tony. He held up a placating hand before pointing upwards, the group waited with baited breath for Jarvis’ response.

“Mr. Claus is able to manipulate all entrances into homes, for example, a chimney, a locked window…” he offered. 

Ana hummed thoughtfully. “Is he a mutant?”

“Mr. Claus’ origin of power is unknown however many have made guesses over the years. The Santa Claus Starring Tim Allen for example, implies the power is passed down from one Claus to another upon putting on the Red outfit Mr. Claus dons to make his deliveries.”

“On a sleigh…. Led by reindeer?” Poseidon reiterated.

“ugh, why you gotta look a gift horse in the mouth?” Chryssy groaned.

“well I guess we’ll have to monitor the house for when he arrives. we’ll just have to come up with a plan.” Alex announced.

Tony groaned at that, “I gotta make a call.” He announced before leaving the room.                                                                                                                                    

************

Oksana and the kids went down to the beach that bordered the cliff side of the house. Ana sat focusing, her feet dug into the sand and her arms directing sand which way and that in an attempt to build a sand castle. She’d found, almost immediately that the wet sand was easier to direct, but only the perfect ratio, too much water and it would slip through her grasp, not enough and oddly the same thing would happen. By now she’d perfected it, and she was currently on the third level of the castle. Alex and Chryssy walked along the shoreline collecting sea shells. The water would occasionally push higher than usual leaving in its wake a seashell and occasionally a disgruntled sea animal. The two would giggle before helping it back into the ocean, pocketing the shell as they went.

The sound of an alarm going off beside Oksana gave the three pause. Oksana looked over her bag confused before pulling out her phone. “Anthony?”

“Rogov where are you?” he questioned.

“The girls and I are down at the beach.”

“Get up to the house there’s been an... Incident.” He returned before disconnecting the line.

Oksana sighed before calling the girls over. Together they vanished in a light breeze, reappearing in Tony’s lab still clad in their swim suits.

“What’s the dealio Daddio?” Ana questioned.

“I need to run down to the hospital” he said urgently

“What why?” Chryssy interrupted.

“Happy was in some kind of accident…” he announced grabbing a set of keys without looking and a pair of shades.

“Is he okay?” Alex questioned.

“What kind of accident?” Chryssy questioned.

“An explosion down at the Chinese theater. Happy got caught in the crossfire- has anyone seen my left shoe?” he yelled.

“Can we come?” Ana questioned holding said shoe in her arms.

Tony sighed before squatting down.

“Not while I’m there. Oksana can take you once I get back.”

Ana pouted while Alex nodded. Chryssy paced silently.

“Explosion?” Chryssy questioned. “Like the ones on the news?”

Tony paused, before nodding.

“This Mandarin guy… he hurt Uncle Happy?” Alex asked.

Tony nodded again, watching the girls’ reaction.

“So what are you gonna do?” Chryssy questioned.

“First I’m going to go check on your Uncle.” He returned.

“And then?” Alex pushed.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” He returned, eyeing his shoe in Ana’s hands.

“Make sure he’s comfy, and his show comes on at twelve thirty, make sure they know that.” Alex returned prying the shoe out of Ana’s hand and handing to Tony.

“I will.” He said before giving them each a kiss.

Later Oksana and Rhodey snuck the girls into see happy, Tony taking the crowd with him as he left, leaving the place quiet.

Ana gasped upon seeing Happy’s prone form in the room. Silently they made their way to the bed.

“Is he going to wake up?” Alex questioned.

Rhodey nodded. “The doctors say his brain is healing, it’s best he stays asleep for that.”

The three nodded, before squeezing into a chair. “What was he doing at the Chinese theater?”

Rhodey glanced over with a shrug. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can talk to him you know, they say they can usually hear what’s going on around them.”

Chryssy walked over to Happy grabbing the hand resting on the bed,

“Hey uncle Happy, it’s me your favorite.”

Rhodey chuckled at Alex and Ana’s protest.

“You remember that time you called dibs on the last pudding cup? Well I ate it.”

“What?” Rhodey interjected. “You blamed that on me.”

“Sorry?” Chryssy chimed. “Also we didn’t mean to put your phone in the pool, Alex had it in her pocket and Hades pushed her in.”

“I don’t think that’s what uncle Rhodey meant.” Alex cut in digging into her backpack.

“Hi Uncle Happy, It’s me Alex your _other_ favorite. Papa said he told the nurses to change the channel to your show, but just in case we programed it to turn to the channel just in case.”

Rhodey’s phone rang before they could continue and he excused himself to the hall.

When he stepped back in, the room was decorated with drawings the kids had made as well as a plush iron man situated beside him.

“Hey we gotta go, your dad did something Stupid and I’m dropping you off at Nick’s”

“What? What did he do?” Ana questioned confused.

“He gave a Terrorist our address.” Rhodey grumbled.

“You What!” Alex Yelled into the phone as they drove away from the airport.

“I challenged the mandarin, He thinks he’s this unbeatable force, but he messed with the wrong guy.” Tony gruffed over the speaker.

“I fail to see how that warrants giving him our address!!” Ana Shrieked.

“I needed a show down place, it sounded better with home turf.” He returned.

“You couldn’t have given him a different isolated location, one that wouldn’t involve us not coming home.” Chryssy grumbled.

“I admit I didn’t think this through, but it’s better that you’re at Nick’s any way, I have a feeling they were coming for me soon.” He returned honestly.

“You could’ve just said that.” Alex said with a sigh.

“I’m sorry.” He tried.

“Be safe.” Alex chimed.

“I’ll try.”

They ended the call just as they pulled into the garage of the Triskelion going through various security checks.

The girls looked out the window confused when Agent Hill greeted them in the garage.

“Where’s Agent Coulson?” Alex questioned.

Rhodey looked up at that. “Who?”

“Agent Coulson, he usually takes us to Uncle Nick.” Chryssy explained

Rhodey frowned before coming around to open the door for the girls. “You three be good okay?”

The three nodded pressing kisses to his cheek.

“Colonel Rhodes.” Agent hill greeted with a nod.

“Agent Hill I take it.” He returned offering her a hand. At her nod, he smiled and with a last wave he climbed back into the car and drove off.

“Where’s Agent Coulson?” Alex questioned once they were in the elevator.

Hill froze at the question. Tucking her chin into her chest she announced. “Unfortunately Agent Coulson was injured during the battle of New York. He didn’t make it.”

“What?” Chryssy whispered.

“I wasn’t aware Director Fury hadn’t mentioned it. I apologize for the late notice.” She offered.

The girls stayed silent as they made their way through the office. It wasn’t until Hill left and they were in front of Nick that they finally spoke.

“Agent Coulson’s dead?” Chryssy questioned.

Nick’s frown deepened. Turning away he sighed. “Agent Coulson fought hard during the Battle of New York, Unfortunately Loki caught him off guard. Medical got there as soon as they could, but not soon enough.” He returned.

“Say it.” Alex chimed.

“Say what.”

Alex glared. “Say that Agent Coulson is dead.” She reiterated.

“I just did.” He said with a raised eyebrow.

“mmm no, you didn’t.” Alex said. “You guys keep saying how it happened but not if he died. Agent Hill said he didn’t make it. but her Electro-dermal activity went up.”

“Her electro-dermal activity.” Nick challenged.

Alex nodded. “We’re especially aware of the electric currents in the air as well as around people. Also, you’re doing that thing where you do the half-truth.”

“Agent Coulson died in action.” Nick said punctuating his words with a hard look at each girl.

“There it is again.” Chryssy announced leaning back in her chair.

Nick let out a sigh.

“Why are you lying to us Uncle Nick?” Ana questioned perplexed.

“Technically he did die.”

Alex nodded.

“That’s the official story?” Ana questioned

“Everything I said is true.” He said with a nod.

“Then what are you hiding because you make it sound like he died, but he didn’t stay that way.” Ana challenged.

Nick stayed silent.

“Shut up!” The three shrieked

“Is he a zombie! How was he? Pale? Incoherent sentences?” Ana questioned.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that he came back.” Nick said with a dubious expression.

“I see.” Alex huffed crossing her arms.

“Do you?” he asked

“Yup, You’re on Santa’s naughty list.” Ana chimed, The three bursting into giggles at Nick’s disgruntled face.

“You three stay here, I’ve got some business to take care of.” he announced before leaving the room.

Figuring now was as good a time as any, the three decided to check in with Tony.

“Jarvis can you patch us through.” Ana called.

“I apologize, but I am unable to access Mr. Stark’s interface.” The A.I. announced, sounding apologetic.

“What do you mean?” Alex questioned as Chryssy manually tried to enter the home database. When the screen read, unable to establish a connection, the three froze.

“Jarvis what happened.” Alex asked.

“The Malibu mansion has been attacked.” He offered.

“Where’s momma?” Ana queried.

“Miss Pott’s is currently in route to a safe location.” He returned.

“Where’s Papa?” Chryssy asked quietly.

“The last connection with the mark 42 was in Rural Tennessee. Unfortunately, I am unable to reconnect to the suit due to its lack of power.”

“Why Tennessee?” Alex questioned.

“I made a flight plan.” Jarvis answered easily.

“Why?” Ana asked confused.

“Sir wanted to investigate the bombings in the area.”

Chryssy let out a huff. “He’ll find a way to call someone. Jarvis keep an eye out for contact made directly to the Stark interface.”

“Very well.”

Not ten minutes later Jarvis alerted them to an incoming call to one of the suits.

Quickly they tagged the location to a pay phone in Tennessee before calling the line back.

Tony sighed before hanging up the phone, he didn’t expect an answer and leaving a message would be fine in the purpose of letting Pepper and the girls know he wasn’t dead. As he turned away from the phone it began to ring. Tony frowned, looking around. Odd. Slowly he picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Good evening Mr. Stark the girls are waiting on the line.”

“Patch me through.” Tony breathed.

“Papa!” they chorused.

“Girls, man is it good to hear your voice.”

“what happened to you! Everyone thinks you’re dead.” Ana choked out.

“let’s keep it that way. For a little while.” Tony added.

“What? No. we can tell Uncle Nick, he’ll send someone to come and get you.” Alex protested.

“I need to stay off the radar. But I promise I’ll take care of this.” He swore.

“We’ll you be home for Christmas?” Chryssy prodded.

“Sounds like I’ve got a date.” Tony joked.

“You promise.” Alex questioned somberly.

“I promise minion.”

Ending the call the three sat sullenly in their chairs, before deciding to make one more call to Pepper. She picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Momma?”

“Girls! Oh thank God.” She cried. “Your father’s okay, alright he’s alive he left a message with one of the suits.”

“We know, we just talked to him.” Alex offered.

“What how?” Pepper questioned

“We traced his call.” Chryssy returned simply.

Pepper paused before letting out a wet chuckle. “Are you still with Rhodey? Is everything okay?”

“He dropped us off with Uncle Nick in DC.” Alex replied.

“Oh good, I’m glad you’re safe.” She breathed out.

“But what about you?” Ana worried.

“I’ll be fine I promise. I’ve got to go but I’ll see you soon okay? I love you.” Pepper reassured them.

“Love you too.” The three chorused before hanging up.

“Worst Christmas ever. Our house is destroyed, Uncle Happy’s in the hospital, our families separated. And Papa’s off fighting a terrorist in a defective suit.” Ana said with a pout.

 

To Nick’s surprise the girls were still in his office when he returned.

“While I’m glad the Triskelion is still in one piece, maybe it’s time we get you three out of here.”

The girls only nodded as they were piled into the car.

Nick looked into the rearview mirror as they drove silently to the air strip.

“I’m sorry about what happened to the mansion. It’s a shame what happened to all your decorations. I got the pictures you sent.”

“It’s okay. Papa had the tower decorated in case anyone came by for the holidays.” Alex explained

Nick nodded. “Rogov is there with the cougars, she’s waiting for you guys to get in.”

“Are you coming over for Christmas?” Ana asked hopefully.

“I’ll see what I can do.” he returned as the jet touched down on the strip.

The girls got to the penthouse of the tower and as the elevator doors opened Oksana and the cubs stood waiting for them as it opened. Teary eyed the girls ran forward the woman engulfing them in a hug, as they finally broke down from the days events.

“Come, I made dinner.” Okasana announced, pulling out of the hug. After dinner, the group curled up on the oversized sofa watching holiday movies with cups of hot apple cider.

The family awoke to news from Jarvis, still piled on the couch.

“It appears Miss. Potts has been taken.” He announced.

“By who?”

“Aldrich Killian.”]

“Who?”

“Early yesterday, she had a meeting with Aldrich Killian from AIM. Before the house was destroyed Maya Hansen, who’d encountered Sir in 1993, she and Miss Potts were in a hotel when her panic alarm was activated. she was recorded saying his name along with a short conversation between Miss Hansen and Aldrich.”

“Play it.” Oksana barked.

“Maya Run!” Pepper’s voice called out.

“Hi Pepper. So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark’s mansion last night?” Aldrich questioned.

“I’m trying to fix this thing! I didn’t know you and the master were gonna blow up the place.” Maya accused.

“Oh I see. So, you were trying to save Stark? When he threatened us?” Aldrich challenged.

“I’ve told you Killian, we can use him.” She returned.

Groaning could be heard before Killian’s voice cut in.

“Pepper, Pepper… Pepper.” He placated.

“Look, if we want to launch product by next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive. Now he has one.” Maya announced, just as the recording ended.

Oksana gripped the girls tight as she spoke over their growls.

“Do you have a location on Virginia?”

“It seems her location is being scrambled. However, I have reconnected with Sir and I’ve informed him of the situation.”

“Well that’s something, is the mark 42 up and running?” Alex questioned gaining control.

“Sir is currently working to get it up and running.” Jarvis offered.

“He’s all alone!” Ana pouted.

“Actually Sir has recruited the help of a local.” Jarvis corrected.

“What?” the group questioned.

“Upon entering a shed, he encountered a young engineer, who has been helping him with the suits.”

“How young?” Oksana questioned.

“A ten year old boy.” Jarvis finally revealed.

“Does anyone else feel replaced?” Ana huffed.

“No no.. he needs all the help he can find.” Alex placated. “Tell us more about Aldrich Killian.”

“He is the head of the company known as Advance Idea Mechanics. He came with a proposal to Pepper, a way to access the cerebral cortex in the brain.” Jarvis explained.

“How did Virginia respond?” Oksana questioned, though she could probably guess.

“Miss Potts turned down the offer, after further review, it seems Mr. Hogun was quite wary of the man and tracked his car to the Chinese theater, where the explosion happened.”

“So there connected? AIM and these explosions?” Chryssy pondered.

“As the evidence would suggest, yes.” Jarvis concurred.

“So he wants to use Momma as leverage to make Papa help them fix something? But what? Why not just ask?” Alex wondered.

Oksana smiled sadly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “People use force to get what they want out of desperation. Especially when they’ve been told no before in the past.”

Alex nodded. “Did Papa say no in the past?”

Oksana froze. “Invisible Jarvis?”

“In 1993 Aldrich Killian confronted Sir with the idea, Sir unfortunately did not handle the situation to gently, and perhaps Aldrich Killian holds a grudge. Maya Hansen as well, went to sir for help with what she called extremist, her chemical properties were unstable and were prone to spontaneous combustion.”

“Extremist? It Explodes? Like a bomb? Uncle Rhodey said they weren’t able to identify a bomb casing on the scene. What if there wasn’t one?”

“Jarvis what made Anthony want to investigate Tennessee?” Oksana asked.

“It was the first known sight of an explosion.” He offered.

“What else?” Oksana pushed.

“Six people were killed in the explosion; the five shadows were burned into the side of the wall where it happened.” Jarvis explained.

“Wait five? Not six?” Alex questioned

Oksana eyes grew wide with realization. “Is there any way we can reach Anthony? Or send him a message?”

“A message seems plausible.”

“Tell him it’s extremist it’s still unstable and they are putting it inside of people to create meta humans. Tell him there are no bombs just unstable chemicals inside them.” Oksana reiterated.

 “This bites!” Chryssy huffed. “I feel so useless.”

“I don’t see how, you’ve contacted your father when no one else could, we’ve sent him information that could better help him.” Oksana listed.

“We know where he is, but we can’t get to him! I’ve never been to Tennessee!” Ana shrieked.

“Ah.. now I understand. You can’t reach him.” Oksana said after a moment.

“we can’t transport to a place we’ve never been. And he doesn’t want us to send him a jet. But what are we supposed to do, it’s two days before Christmas, and everything is going wrong.”

“He promised he’d be home.” Alex grumbled.

“Has he broken it?” Oksana challenged

“No.” she returned begrudgingly.

“Give him time Malyutka.” Oksana placated.

 The next day the girls went to the green house, the room was just shy of the roof being just a floor below. And to their surprise it wasn’t empty.

Alex sniffed as they climbed the stairs, confused she called out. “Uncle Bruce?” as they rounded the corner to find Dr. Banner meditating in the center of the greenery.

He peeked an eye open before sending them a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize anyone was here.”

“You’ve been in the tower by yourself?” Chryssy questioned.

“It’s been quite peaceful.” He said with a chuckle.

“I guess you don’t watch the news.” Ana huffed plopping down in front of him.

“I try not to.” He said with a shrug.

The girls giggled before sitting down in front of him. Quietly the girls followed Bruce’s every move. He took in a deep breath before letting out a an ‘OOMM’. The girls followed suite, as Bruce suppressed a smile.

“Should I have watched the news?” Bruce questioned after a few minutes of silence.

“Umm… probably not.” Alex said, clapping a hand over both her sisters mouth. “I wouldn’t want to disturb your um.. peace?”

“I think I can handle it.” he said with a soft smile.

As if on cue, Ana removed the hand covering her mouth before catching the good doctor up on the last two days.

Alex sighed when Bruce stayed his normal complexion.

“Wow I’m sorry girls, this must be hard on you.” he said after a minute. “Maya Hansen? That name sounds familiar.”

The girls shrugged.

“If I may” Jarvis chimed “Maya Hansen has been known for her theories on human regeneration. She began her research her second year of MIT.”

“oh yeah Extremist” Ana supplied.

“What?” Bruce questioned.

“That’s what she called it.” Alex said with a shrug.

Bruce nodded. “If it’s still spontaneously combusting, she probably needs to check the Telomerase algorithm.”

The three looked at him blankly.

“The what?” Ana supplied.

“The Telomerase algorithm. Telomeres helps regulate Cell aging. It’s like the end cap on a marker, that keeps it from spoiling. If what they’re doing causes explosions where their planned regrowth should be taking place, they need to check”

“The Telomerase algorithm. Hmm.” Alex finished thoughtfully.

“why move to human testing if it isn’t stabilized?” Chryssy wondered aloud.

Bruce shrugged. “People do crazy things in the name of science. It’s hard when people constantly put down your research, you just have an urge to prove them wrong, try to erase their doubts from your mind. The heads only want to see results; they don’t care how they get them until things start going wrong.” Bruce explained.

“Like Dr, Foster’s research?” Alex agreed.

At Bruce’s look Ana explained.

“Thor was telling us how no one took her research seriously until she discovered him coming through the rainbow bridge.”

“The Einstein-Rosen Bridge.” Bruce corrected.

“Thor calls it a rainbow bridge; I’d call it a topsy turvy bridge cause that’s how it feels when it touches down on earth.” Alex said with a frown.

“You can feel it?” Bruce asked surprised.

“Anytime Thor comes or leaves earth we can feel the energy it disturbs when it breaks into our atmosphere.” Ana said with a nod.

Bruce stared wide eyed. “That’s amazing, your mutation still baffles me.” he said in awe.

Ana giggled as a stray vine patted him on the head placatingly.

He chuckled at the display before standing up. “I’m going to head to bed. I’ll have Jarvis keep me updated incase Tony needs any help.” He offered.

“Thanks Uncle Bruce! I’ll tell Babulya you’re here, you can eat dinner with us!” Chryssy chirped.

“That sounds great.” He returned before disappearing down the stairs.

The girls laid back on the grass, as the plants began to dance around them in an invisible breeze. Ana chuckled at their silliness, as they were lulled to sleep. When they awoke, Chryssy squinted into the darkness.

“I didn’t think we slept that long.” She said with a yawn.

“We didn’t” Ana chirped, gently pushing the leaves that had shrouded them away.

Alex giggled before rising to her feet.

Together they found Babulya in the kitchen entertaining the cubs. The girls scooted in beside them at the table as the woman instructed them on the proper way to make Pelmeni so that the filling would stay inside the dumpling.

The group diligently worked to have Christmas dinner prepped and ready. Oksana did her best to keep her group occupied but she could see the worry in all of them as the girls hourly checked their tablets for any news or updates from Jarvis.

As Christmas morning arrived the girls looked forlornly out of their bedroom window. The sky a cloudy grey reflecting their current mood. A knock at the door drew them away as Oksana stepped into the room.

“It Seems Santa Claus found you.” she hinted.

“I just want Papa and Mamma to be home.” Alex said with a sigh.

Oksana nodded in understanding. “We will wait for them then. How about breakfast?”

The girls nodded before following her out of the room still clad in their footie pajamas. As they rounded the corner to the kitchen they froze as they picked up on voices in the kitchen.

“Papa?” Alex called confused.

Tony spun around in his chair at the call. “Hey minions why so sad? It’s Christmas!” he said with a smirk.

The girls darted forwards to engulf him in a hug.

Said man released a groan upon impact.

“Sorry.” Chryssy apologized, the three moving to pull back.

Tony clutched them tighter. “It’s a good hurt.” He returned.

“Stop hogging them!” Pepper chirped, and immediately her arms were full as the girls cried into her shirt. She coaxed them down into sniffles before turning them into the dining room.

The girls smiled upon seeing the full group in the room. Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Bruce were situated patiently at the table, some looking a little worse for wear. But still in one piece. And at the end of the table Nick sat watching the girls with the closest thing to a smile Tony had ever seen.

The three smiled happily at the group as they situated themselves around the table.

“Best Christmas ever.” Alex mock whispered to her sisters who could only giggle in response.

Bonus:

  Clint chuckled darkly as he dropped out of the quinjet and onto the tower in the night. His landing, made difficult by the added weight of a faux stomach, and large sack of presents, was only slightly shaky. He kept his head down where he knew Jarvis would be monitoring, though unnecessarily for his face was shrouded with a white beard and a large red hat. Using the a side panel on the roof he carefully wiggled down into the vents of the tower, the security system supposedly disabled upon Stark’s request for proof of the existence of Santa Claus. Clint breathed a sigh of relief as he dropped down into the penthouse, shaking out his red outfit before striding towards the tree. A soft growl caught his attention. Ans he quickly let out a quiet.

“Ho, Ho, Ho.”

Immediately the Cougars tongue lolled out of his mouth before he bounded over.

Clint scratched behind his ear, praying that the scent Tony created would disguise his own.

“Off to bed now.” Clint huffed in a deep voice.

The cougar nodded before striding off down the hall leaving Clint alone once again.

He quickly laid out the gifts under the tree, before collecting the offered cookies and milk from the plate sitting on the coffee table. And with that done he climbed back up into the vent making sure to jingle the bells on his wrist slightly for the cameras sake. As he climbed back on the roof. a sleigh pulled up to the side of the roof, mechanical reindeer seemingly pulling it through the sky.  He climbed inside and once they were far enough away, thankfully going slower than usual, he opened the hatch that led to the camouflaged quinjet beneath the setup.

Natasha chuckled as Clint dropped into the seat next her with a loud groan.

“Stark owes me big time for this.”

“Whatever you say Saint Nick.” Tony’s voice announced over the speaker.

And if Clint got a new set of trick arrows in his stocking, he didn’t complain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? I literally almost forgot Iron man 3, and I couldn't let that stand!! not much happened this chapter, so I'm sorry if it was a little boring! Let me know if you have any questions.


	28. We Just Want to Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. I have no idea what I'm doing. Send help!! However Here is a new chapter. I'm really sorry it took this long.

“So, let me get this straight,” Tony began with a chuckle, “You thought crossing the wires would fix the problem?”

“Well how was I supposed to know it wouldn’t.” Chryssy challenged.

The sound of bending metal drew her attention.

Pepper looked down frustrated at the utensil in her clenched fist. “Excuse me.” she murmured, pushing away from the table. The group watched her climb the stairs before disappearing around the corner.

“Is mamma okay?” Ana asked

Tony let out a sigh.

“Yeah, she’s just going through some changes.” Tony placated, still staring at the corner Pepper disappeared around.

“She’s been doing that a lot. Did something happen?” Alex questioned.

Tony let out a sigh. “When Pepper was taken by Aldrich, he used his extremist serum on her.”

“He what?” Alex gasped.

“Is she going to be okay?” Ana asked.

“You fixed it right!” Chryssy added.

“Of course, I fixed it. there was no way to remove it, so we had to stabilize it.” Tony huffed.

“So, what’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“Peppers not used to the strength yet, she’ll adjust. We just have to give her time.” Oksana placated as she resumed eating.

The girls followed her lead, but couldn’t help the worry that stirred.

The girls were dressed and ready for bed when they knocked hesitantly on Pepper’s bedroom door.

“Come in.” she called quietly through the closed door.

Alex opened the door the rest of the way. “ We just wanted to say goodnight.” The three filling up the door way shyly.

“Oh, I’m sorry girls, I complete forgot.” Pepper apologized with a sniffle.

“It’s okay.” Ana said with a small smile.

“Can we come in?” Chryssy asked.

“Of, course.” Pepper rushed, sitting up in her bed.

The girls wasted no time in situating themselves around her in the bed.

“Papa told us what happened...” Ana murmured.

“He did?” she asked paling.

“Do you remember what you told us, when we first got out powers, and we had to adjust.” Alex questioned,

“Be patient.” Pepper said with a small smile.

“we can help you, if you want?” Chryssy offered.

“I’d like that.” She agreed with a soft smile.

Pepper slid back down in bed, the girls snuggling closer under the blankets.

“So tell me about your new routine.” Pepper prodded, around a sleepy yawn.

“This one has all seven of us in it!” Ana began excitedly.

When Tony came into check on them he found the four fast asleep, he quietly closed the door, before heading back down to his lab.

As Pepper came to terms with her new found power, Tony looked into his own, more shrapnel related, problem.

“I’m thinking of having it removed.” He announced to the girls as they sat around the workshop.

“But how will you live??” Ana shrieked.

“What? Minion I don’t follow.” He admitted with a frown.

“How can you live without your battery?” Alex explained, eyes wide.

Tony huffed out a laugh “My battery? Is that what you think this is.”

Alex and Ana only shrugged.

“No it’s more of a magnet, there’s shrapnel surrounding my hear. The reactor just keeps it at bay.” Tony explained.

The three paled.

“Why do you still have it inside you?” Chryssy asked, clearly disgruntled.

“There was no sure fire way for me to survive the surgery, now there is.” Tony announced.

“There is?” The three questioned, matching looks of confusion taking over their faces.

Tony nodded, “Extremist.”

The girls looked to each other with frowns.

“I’m telling mom.” Chryssy shrieked.

Tony gasped dramatically. “Traitor, and she already knows.”

“And…” Ana challenged.

“She is currently on vacation.” Tony admitted.

Alex let out a huff “Is there no other way?”

“If I get the shrapnel removed without it. there’d be a gaping hole in my chest.” He said with a sigh.

“Alright.” Alex chimed.

“That means what, exactly?” tony questioned.

Alex stepped closer, squeezing his cheeks between her dimpled hands.

“That you know what you’re doing, and I’ll be there with flowers and a cheesy get well soon card when you get out of surgery.” She said with a small smirk.

Tony looked behind her to Ana and Chryssy.

“Yeah, and we can get you some balloons, and a stuffed bear? No, A Baby turtle, and he’ll be purple. We can name him Max.” Ana nodded enthusiastically.

Tony could only chuckle in dismay. “Well then, once Pepper gets back. I’ll get it done.”

The day came all too soon and the girls sat at the house waiting with Oksana, for when he’d get out of surgery.

Tony came to blinking at the bright hospital lights.

Looking to the side of the bed he found Pepper, and the kids curled up on another hospital bed.

On the other side was an abundance of get well soon balloons, with iron man party balloons dispersed in between.

Tony let out sigh, before drifting back off, content that he was surrounded by his family.

**************************

“Sir Deep shadow conditions have been invoked.” Tony froze before looking up. “What? By who?”

“Director Fury, approximately 3 minutes ago,” Jarvis returned.

“Why am I just hearing about this?” Tony chimed, already dialing the director.

“Stark this really isn’t the time.” Nick said by way of greeting.

“What do you need?” Tony questioned.

 

*******************************

Alex looked around their room with a huff before looking under the bed.

“I already checked down there.” Ana groaned, hanging off the edge of the bed to peer down at her.

“Yeah well-“ Alex cut off as metal shutters blocked out the windows around their room.

Startled Ana fell off the bed with a thump, landing on top of Alex as she began to climb out from beneath the bed.

“Oh god, get off, your squishing me.” she giggled.

“Jarvis what’s going on?” Chryssy questioned turning on the bedside lamp as all the natural light was extinguished from the room.

“Deep shadow Protocol is in effect.” Jarvis intoned.

“What does that mean??” Ana questioned.

“Did somebody get hurt?” Alex pushed.

Chryssy got up to open her door only to realized it was locked. “What’s going on J?”

“Your Uncle has called it in.” he finally answered.

“Which uncle?” Ana shrieked.

“The director. Your father has ordered me to keep you to your room until he says otherwise.”

“That sounds boring.” Ana whined with a pout before opening her tablet, her sisters crowding around her to see the screen. She pressed a few buttons and then a dial tone rang out.

“Who is this?” a voice hissed.

“Uncle Nick?” Ana questioned confused.

“How did you get this number.” He said through a cough.

“Are you okay? Your voice sounds weird.” Alex worried.

“Are you in trouble?” Chryssy chimed.

“Look girls I can’t talk right now.” Nick groaned, the sound of fabric against metal hissing through the phone.

“Are you in a sewer?” Alex questioned.

“Are you tracking me?” Nick questioned sounding appalled.

“Maybe?” Ana Mumbled.

“Well stop!” he hissed.

“Tell us what’s going on.” Chryssy insisted.

“I can’t, it’s too dangerous. You three stay out of trouble.” He said before the line went dead.

“A sewer in Washington DC, a few blocks from the Triskelion.” Ana announced.

“Where’s the truck?” Alex questioned, taking the tablet from Ana. After hitting a few keys, she found its location. Bringing up the video footage of a nearby streetlight, she found the upside down vehicle.

“What happened?” Chryssy asked wide eyed.

A few more taps and Alex brought up the footage. They watched in horror as Nick drove his way through a war zone only to be stopped by a single figure in black, an odd device in his hand.

Ana let out a scream when the truck exploded flipping upside down as it flew through the intersection. As it came to a stop the figure strode forward.

 Chryssy’s eyes began to flash dangerously as he ripped the door off its hinges only to turn away a minute later.

“Hey wait, I know that arm.” Alex murmured zooming in on the figure.

“James!” Ana said with a gasp.

“Why’s he after uncle Nick.” Alex questioned looking pale.

The three looked to each other before vanishing. It wasn’t like they actually needed the door.

“Papa!” Ana shrieked as they appeared in the lab.

Tony whirled around in surprise. “I told you three to stay in your room!” he groaned.

“Papa look!” Alex pleaded, showing Tony the footage.

“I’ve already seen it Minion.” Tony offered.

“No, we know that guy!” Chryssy asserted.

Tony froze, as Bruce walked over.

“That’s impossible.” The doctor announced as he adjusted his glasses.

“Why do you think you know The Winter Soldier?” Tony questioned, slightly exasperated.

“The… what? No we named him James!” Ana said adamantly.

“James?!” Tony choked.

“What? It’s not like we call Uncle Rhodey that, and he said he was a soldier, and the only other soldier we knew was him, and why is that a problem, It’s a common name and-”

Alex slapped a hand across Chryssy’s mouth. “Why is he trying to kill Uncle Nick?” she blurted.

Tony and Bruce looked to each other, before turning back to the girls.

“First you explain how you met… James and then I’ll tell you what I know, which isn’t much… Yet.” Tony bargained.

The three seemed to mull it over, before agreeing.

“We went on a field trip to the museum with the school, and we saw something on an upper level, it was James, and then men with guns came, and then James got us out of the building before it exploded.” Ana explained.

“Did that explain anything to you?” Bruce whispered to Tony.

“I need to keep a better eye on my kids.” Tony said with a groan. “Why am I just hearing about this?”

“I don’t know you were busy!!” Alex said with a frown.

“Well your buddy here works for some bad people, who want Nick out of the picture. If he’s such a good guy… then..” Tony trailed off.

“He is a good guy, the bad guys just don’t give him a choice.” Alex urged.

“What leverage, hmm? What do they have on him?” Tony Challenged.

“None.. I think they make him forget.” Chryssy offered.

“Forget what?” Bruce chimed.

“Everything, Who he is, who he was….”Alex explained

“What he was.” Added Ana.

“That’s not possible.” Tony reminded them.

“He said he wouldn’t remember us, which is ridiculous because I’m awesome, so we told him not to, and he said “They don’t give me a choice” Ana finished in a mock deep voice that had Tony and Bruce giving her strange looks while Chryssy and Alex sent her approving nods.

“He was really sad, so we gave him a crystal.” Chryssy added.

“A crystal?” Bruce questioned.

“Well it’s more of an orb.” Tony clarified.

“Yeah, I mean we weren’t as good at making them at the time, and it’s much smaller than the one we gave Grandma Peggy, but we created it for him so he would remember us…. Sort of.” Alex explained.

“You built it?” Bruce asked.

“Technically we did.” Ana offered.

“We made it with our elements.” Alex added. “Here.” She said motioning for Bruce’s hand.

“I don’t do well with surprises.” He returned hesitantly.

“You might feel some warmth and a tickle but that’s it.” Chryssy reassured with a shrug before grabbing his hand. Together the three cupped their hands over his before sending a bit of their power together. When they finished a small orb was nestled in Bruce’s palm.

Adjusting his glasses Bruce stared transfixed as the elements swirled and changed in the orb.

“Fascinating.” He gaped.

“So what’s the plan?” Chryssy chirped while he continued to stare down at the object in awe.

“Plan? Uh no. You three need to stay as far away from this as possible.” Tony warned.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous James is our friend. We have to help him.” Ana pleaded.

“No, no there’s no we.. I don’t even know who we’re facing right now.” Tony grumbled.

“We could help…” Ana huffed as Chryssy dragged her from the room.

 

As the week continued the girls did as they were told working on unfinished projects and keeping up with Babuyla’s lessons. Finally with a break the three laid slumped on the floor in the penthouse living room of the tower, the tv on as background noise as they thought about James.

As Ana let out what had to be the hundredth sigh, a breaking news alert drew Alex’s attention.

“Wait what?” Alex shrieked popping up. “Jarvis replay the last two seconds of the news.”

 The girls watched in horror as Steve, Natasha, and a man wearing what looked to be a jet pack kneeled down on the ground with guns aimed at their heads.

“ **Captain America a Terrorist?”** The headline seemed to scream off the screen.

“Oh my goodness what?” Ana blurted.

The girls sat with rapt attention as the news explained the situation. But the angles were all wrong as they tried to get a glimpse of the action.

Alex let out a frustrated groan before turning on her tablet, a series of clicks later and in one fell swipe the picture on the screen changed to a street view of the entire incident from the visual of the traffic lights.

The girls quickly had Jarvis play the scene, watching as James took on the three of the heroes.

The three let out a shriek as the assumed spot of Natasha went up in flames, only for her to come flying out behind the soldier. They sat visibly tense through the entire ordeal.

“Wait pause it.” Alex interrupted. The screen froze on an image of Steve just as James turned around to show his unmasked face. The angle showed Steve’s face as he stood shocked, then as he visibly flinched. The girls stared confused as James was knocked off screen by a winged individual only to go up in flames as someone fired at him. Soon the video came full circle as the heroes kneeled in the broken concrete, Steve’s face still holding both shock and horror.

“Why does he look like that?” Chryssy wondered out loud.

“I mean the guy was attacked?” Alex defended.

“No, I mean he just stopped. He froze!” Chryssy reiterated.

“You mean when he saw James’ face.” Ana clarified.

“Yeah, like he recognized him.” Chryssy said with a nod.

“Maybe he did?” Alex said with a shrug.

************************

Visions of a disconnected past flashed through the soldier’s mind, and before he could stop he’d sent the closest person too him flying. But as quickly as it came it disappeared, and he sat back in a daze.

He listened as footsteps grew closer but couldn’t get his mind to focus even as his newest owner stopped in front of him. He didn’t make a move to acknowledge him.

The man spoke, but he couldn’t hear him over the white noise in his ears. So he didn’t see the slap to his face come, but it brought some clarity to his mind. He heard himself say.

“The man on the bridge, who was he?”

The man looked at him blankly before sighing. “You met him earlier this week on another assignment.” He answered.

He didn’t remember that… but… “I knew him.” The soldier returned.

That didn’t seem to placate the man in front of him, as he described his mission objective.

“But I knew him.” He tried again.

The man let out another disappointed sigh, before barking out an order.

As he was pushed back into the machine around him, he realized something was clenched in his fist. Small and round, it seemed to constantly emit warmth, or maybe that was because he’d been clutching it this entire time. He clenched it tighter as someone inserted a guard into his mouth. He bit down on it without question.

 Slowly almost menacingly the machine descended around him. As the machine whirred to life he heard a slight crack, and he glanced down in confusion as green, grey and blue colors swirled out of his fist in a mist. It swirled around him as he looked around in panic, the scientist seemed to back away from him as it expanded. There was a tugging feeling at his center and then everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and Review?


	29. Hellos and Not Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have edited and added and edited some more..... and here you have it! Enjoy!!

Ana stared confused at the previously open space in the garden. Noticing her distraction Alex sidled up to her.

“Nice tree.” Alex hummed.

“Not mine.” Ana returned with a frown.

“Well I didn’t do it.” Alex shrugged. “Hey Chryssy?”

“Hmm?” She acknowledged, looking up from the plants she’d been watering.

“Did you do this?” Ana questioned.

“Nooo…” Chryssy returned slowly, pushing a loose strand of hair out of her face.

“Then how’d it get in here?” Ana asked.

“How should I know?” Alex shrugged.

“Jarvis?” Chryssy called.

“The Tree grew rapidly sometime this morning.” He informed them.

“And you didn’t say anything?” Ana asked with a small frown.

“I assumed it was one of your projects.” Jarvis defended.

“Can you scan it?” Alex tried.

“It appears to be a regular tree.” Jarvis answered.

“Thanks.” Alex huffed before striding towards it. Hesitantly she place a hand to the stump before jerking her hand back. “Holy cow!”

“What? What is it?” Ana asked, taking a step away from the tree.

“There’s something inside it!” Alex gaped.

“What?” Chryssy squeaked.

“Listen! Can’t you hear the heartbeat?” Alex insisted, motioning towards the tree.

“I thought it was the tree.” Ana said with a shrug.

Chryssy rolled her eyes before stepping closer. “J, can you try another scan, look for any signs of life.”

“There appears to be a man inside.” Jarvis announced, sounding disgruntled.

“Inside the tree?” Alex reiterated.

“Yes.” Jarvis answered.

“I wonder how he got in there.” Ana mumbled, as she circled the tree.

“Should we get him out?” Chryssy asked.

“Umm.” Alex returned.

“Should we tell someone.” Chryssy pushed.

“Umm.” Alex repeated.

“Sir has been notified of the intrusion.” Jarvis interrupted.

“What!?” The three shrieked in unison.

The sound of repulsors soon followed before Tony, clad in the Iron Man suit, appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Girls stand back!” He ordered.

“Just wait a second!” Ana shrieked standing protectively in front of the tree.

“Out of the way minion.” Tony barked.

“Just listen! It’s our tree!” Ana pleaded.

“Jarvis said,” Tony began.

“Jarvis can’t recognize that it has our mark on it.” Alex told him, stepping protectively in front of Ana.

“What?” He questioned, the suit opening as he stepped out.

“It feels like the rest of the plants.” Ana offered, peeking out from behind her sister.

“But you didn’t grow it!” Tony clarified.

“But it’s still ours, you can’t just destroy it! Someone’s in there!” Chryssy defended.

“Who?” Tony asked confusion clear across his features.

“Umm.. not sure yet.” Ana returned sheepishly.

“Well ask!” He said with a shrug.

“Oh, great tree who is inside your trunk!” Ana returned sarcastically.

The girls froze as the tree responded.

“What?” Tony asked, only slightly annoyed that he was left out of the conversation.

“It said….” Alex began before she trailed off into a mumble.

“I’m sorry who?” Tony questioned, leaning closer.

“It’s James!” Ana huffed.

“What? How?” Tony blurted.

Alex only shrugged before looking specutively at the tree. “I mean, now that you mention it, it kind of feels like the orb we gave him.”

Ana stood to the side still off in deep conversation with the tree.

“Oh wow that’s intense! So you brought him here?” She asked, thoughtfully.

The leaves began to droop at her assumed disapproval.

“Oh no! That’s okay! You did good!” Ana reassured before throwing her arms around its base.

The tree visibly perked up, and Tony could only watch in confusion.

“The Winter Soldier is currently in my tower?” Tony clarified.

Chryssy nodded hesitantly.

Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, well how do we get him out?”

“We can’t just kick him out!” Alex gasped horrified.

“I meant out of the tree.” Tony returned.

“Oh well, um” Chryssy began.

“We can’t.” Alex blurted.

“What do you mean you can’t” Tony balked.

“Well James is in a… Stasis. The tree will release him when it’s done.” Ana chimed from her position, still hugging the tree.

“Why?” Tony asked

“I don’t know, I’m just telling you what the tree told me.” Ana said with a shrug.

“How is this my life?” Tony question aloud.

“Pardon my interruption, but there seems to be a lower level intrusion.” Jarvis announced.

“What. now.” He ground out.

Slowly he turned back towards the stairs, where the suit stood waiting. “You three” he said, pointing at each of the girls “if anything changes with that tree, have Jarvis lock down the garden and you get out.” He ordered before descending the stairs in the suit.

The three nodded before looking back at the tree.

“I hope he’s okay in there.” Alex murmured, placing a comforting hand on the base of the tree.

“Well back to work, this garden won’t prune itself!” Ana ordered.

Chryssy and Alex let out twin groans before picking up their discarded tools.

 

An hour later Jarvis’ voice broke the prolonged silence of their work.

“Your father has requested your presence in the penthouse living room.”

Alex looked up before disappearing, her sister following soon after.

“You called?” Ana questioned upon her entrance only to come up short.

Nick sat on the couch, his face littered with cuts and bruises, he sent them a small wave with the arm that wasn’t currently in a sling.

“Uncle Nick!” they chorused before racing over.

“Easy!” Tony called.

The girls slowed, before embracing the man in a light hug.

“Are you okay? You look like you went ten rounds with a trash compactor.” Chryssy began.

“Hey!” Nick interjected.

“And lost. Are you going to replace your arm with a hook?” Alex added.

“To think I wanted to see you three.” Nick returned with an eye-roll.

“Are you okay Uncle Nick?” Chryssy repeated.

“I’ll be all right. But I wanted to talk to you, in person.” He explained.

“About what?” Ana asked, situating herself as close to him as possible without jostling his arm.

Nick looked up at Tony who nodded before turning to look out the darkened window.

“Shield was compromised.” He began.

“By who?” Alex questioned, mouth agape.

“Hydra.” He admitted.

“But Captain America and the howling commandos stopped them!” Ana objected. Recalling the many stories Grandma Peggy had regaled to them over the years.

“That’s what we all thought.” Nick huffed.

“Are they the ones who tried to kill you?” Chryssy asked.

Nick let out another sigh before nodding.

“You’re leaving.” Alex deduced.

“I need to lay low for a while.” He confirmed.

Ana pouted up at him, eyes watery with unshed tears. “but I’ll miss you too much.” she sniffed.

“I hate to say it, but I’ll miss you too.” He admitted, wiping away a stray tear as it slid down her cheek.

“Will you call?” Ana asked

“When I can.” he agreed with a nod.

“Oh this sucks. I hate Hydra” Alex huffed.

Tony snorted, from his position. “Don’t we all.” He muttered.  “All right ladies, say your good byes, Uncle Nick has a schedule to keep.”

“But I don’t like good byes.” Ana sniffled.

“Then how about a see you, until next time?” Nick offered.

“I’m going to miss terrorizing the baby agents.” Chryssy huffed.

Nick sent her a look.

“Not that we ever did.” She corrected.

Nick rolled his eye, before pushing up from the couch, but not before the girls could each give him a kiss on the cheek, unable to hug him properly in his injured state.

“No one can know that I’m alive, the avengers should all know by now, but if anyone else asks? I’ve got a plot reserved for appearances.”

“We’ll even bring you flowers” Tony chimed.

Nick stepped onto the elevator with one last wave before the doors closed after him.

Tony slowly replaced Nick on the couch, the girls curling around him.

*****************

A few days later Steve and Natasha returned along with a new addition, all looking a little worse for wear as they entered the common level.

“Aunt Tasha! Uncle Steve!” Alex called spotting them first.

The two Avengers perked up as the three raced for them.

“Boy am I glad to see you three.” Steve said with a smile catching Ana as she jumped for him.

Natasha crouched down to catch Alex and Chryssy with a groan.

“Are you hurt?” Alex worried.

“I’m on the mend.” She returned.

The girls turned to the elevator when another man entered.

“Hey you’re the guy with the wings!” Alex cheered, pointing a finger at the man.

“That I am.” He greeted, with a tired smile.

“Sam, meet Alex, Ana, and Chryssy, girls meet my friend Sam Wilson.” Steve introduced

“Well, how do you ladies do?” he said with a smirk.

The three beamed brightly up at him before engulfing him in a hug.

“Did Clint get back yet?” Steve questioned, just as the archer dropped out of the vent.

“You guys decided to destroy shield without me? I don’t know whether I should be offended or offended.” He accused.

“Don’t be.” Natasha returned, squeezing his shoulder as she passed him to go to the kitchen.

“Sam and I need to talk to Tony; do you know where he is?” Steve asked, crouching down to the girls.

Alex shrugged. “Jarvis does.”

“Sir is currently in the lab with Dr. Banner.” He chimed.

“Thanks, I’ll see you later for dinner, Pasta, right?” he questioned, stepping onto the waiting elevator with Sam.

“You got it!” Ana chimed, as the elevator closed.

Ana turned around to find Clint and Natasha in the kitchen sitting close together as they talked.

With a look to her sisters they vanished, reappearing in the garden.

Ana laid a hand on the tree checking it’s progress before sighing.

“Looks like you’ll be in there for a while.” She huffed.

The three sat around the tree until they ended up laying down in the grass. Above them they could see the cougars lounging on its branches.

“Maybe we should tell him a story?” Ana offered.

“Jarvis, can you read us a story?” Alex chimed.

Ana sent her a look.

“What, Jarvis does great character voices.” She defended.

“What story would you like to hear this evening?” Jarvis inquired.

“The hobbit!” Chryssy chirped.

“Very well.” He agreed before starting the opening line. “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.”

 

Tony and Bruce talked idly, as they worked on their newest Project when a knock on the glass drew their attention.

Tony made a waving motion for Jarvis to allow them entry, before eyeing Steve and his new friend.

“Hey Steve.” Bruce greeted.

“Bruce.” He greeted with a nod.

“Tony, Bruce I want you to meet” Steve began.

“Sam Wilson, former united states Para rescue.” Tony interrupted eyeing the new addition with speculation.  

Steve sent him a look.

“You think I let just anyone into my tower?” Tony challenged with a raised eyebrow.

“Sam uses a…” Steve trailed off, looking to Sam to take it from there.

Pulling out a file labeled Exo- 7 Falcon in bold letters. He moved to hand it to Tony only for Bruce to intercept it with sheepish smile.

“I don’t like being handed things.” Tony said with a shrug.

“It’s a thing.” Bruce and Steve parroted.

Sam only shrugged before explaining “It’s the Falcon exo-skeleton. It got banged up in the fight, and Steve says you’re the man to fix it.” Sam piped in hopefully.

“I saw your stint birdie, pretty impressive. Do you have them with you?” Tony asked.

Sam nodded.

“Swing by with them after dinner, I’ll take a look at it then.” He agreed, turning back to what looked to be an arm from one of the suits.

“Thank you.” Sam returned. “I didn’t think I’d be able to get them fixed, thought I was grounded for good.”

Tony nodded before checking his watch. “How long will you be staying?”

“Just until Sam’s wings can be fixed. We’ll be heading out after that. I was hoping you could help me with something.” Steve admitted, looking hopefully to Tony.

“With what?”  he asked connecting a few wires together before closing the hatch on the arm.

“Finding Bucky.” Steve returned.

“Your old pal from the forties?” Tony asked confused.

“Have you not been watching the news?” Sam challenged.

Tony grimaced “Seems like that’s all I’ve been doing.”

“The men we were fighting before, out on the bridge? He was with them. Natasha called him the Winter soldier.” Steve explained.

Tony and Bruce froze at the new information.

“Yanked the steering wheel right through the roof of my car. I don’t suppose you can fix that.” Sam Joked.

“I might, though it might end up talking afterwards, the girls go a little crazy on car projects. Steve I think we need to talk.” Tony finished, motioning for Steve to follow.

“Where are, we going?” Steve questioned as he followed behind him.

“You’ll want proof, the girls can give you that.” He said stepping onto the elevator. “Wilson, why don’t you get settled, Jarvis will show you to your room.” He offered as Steve stepped in beside him.

“Is this about Bucky?” Steve whispered as the door slid closed.

 

The girls looked up as Steve and Tony entered the garden. Jarvis immediately stopped reading at their entrance.

“Hi Papa, Uncle Steve. What’s up?” Alex greeted.

“I need you tell Cap everything that happened with… James.” Tony prompted.

Ana stood, backing towards the tree. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt him!” she accused.

“We won’t. I promise.” Steve chimed taking a seat in the grass.

Ana eyed him before sighing, slowly she told them the story of how they met James.

“He saved you?” Steve questioned in awe.

“Yup just as the building exploded.” Alex answered before Ana continued on with the story.

At the end Steve looked them over before looking at the tree.

“Then we have to get him out of there.” He urged.

“What you promised you wouldn’t hurt him!” Alex huffed,

“I’d never, but that’s my friend in there. His name is James Buchanan Barnes. And he’s my best friend”

“I told you it was a popular name!” Chryssy shrieked triumphantly.

“You mean James is.. The Bucky Barnes. The howling commando!?” Alex asked wide eyed.

Steve could only nod. “So please,”

“We can’t.” Ana cut in.

“What? Why?” Steve asked, disappointment clear in his voice.

“The tree isn’t finished yet.” Alex offered.

“What does that mean?” he huffed, eyeing the tree warily.

“It means he’ll come out when he’s ready. The tree said he’s sorting through somethings.” Ana explained

“Like, his memories?” Steve supplied.

“Whatever it is, it’s gonna take a while.” Chryssy returned with a shrug.

Steve eyed the tree longingly, before letting out a resigned sigh

“But you can visit him, Bruce comes up here sometimes to do yoga, we wouldn’t mind if you did too.” Ana offered.

Steve nodded with a sad smile. “Thank you. I’d like that.”

***************

 With the fall of Shield Tony continued to house the Avengers. Even going as far as to hire a few of the vetted SHIELD Agents into Stark Industries. Maria Hill joined Happy as the head of security, one for the Tower as well as their operations around the U.S.

Jarvis’ Voice broke through the lab as Bruce and Tony continued the super-secret project that had once again barred the girls from his lab without adult supervision.

“Sir, Sharon Carter is on the line for you.” Jarvis announced.

Tony visibly perked up before ordering the A.I. to patch her through

“My dearest cousin, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Tony? How are you?”

“As well as one can be.”

“Look I’m sorry for the short notice, but I’ve been compromised.”

“You need a place to stay.” Tony guessed.

“Only temporary. I was going to apply for the F.B.I but who knows how long they’ll take to get back to me.”

“Okay, or you could work for me?” Tony chimed.

Sharon went silent over the line.

“Is… Captain Rogers still around?”

Tony gasped. “What did you do?”

“I may have been the agent tasked with staying close to him, secretly.” She mumbled.

“Oh Sharon” Tony chided dramatically.

“Shut up! I was doing my job.” Sharon protested.

“I can’t wait to be Aunt Peggy’s favorite nibbling.”

“I swear that’s not a word Tony!”

“It means the child of one’s sibling, its gender neutral, and it _is_ a word. Come, work here I’m sure Hill wouldn’t mind the assistance at HQ.”

“What about…”

“Are you planning on avoiding him forever?” Tony asked.

“NO…. Maybe… He gave me this betrayed look, and then he called me “Neighbor” in the most disappointed voice he could muster, I felt like I betrayed America!” Sharon lamented.

Tony bit back a chuckle at that.

“It’s not funny!” She hissed

“I know, I know, look you can work with Hill. She’s usually the background for the team when we’re on missions. And the guest room is available in the penthouse of the tower, I’m sure the girls will be happy to finally meet you. I’ll set you up a permanent apartment if it works out. ”

“OH, Pepper sent me their picture the other day, they’re so cute!” Sharon cooed.

Tony chuckled. “Do you need a ride over?”

“That would be great” she breathed.

“Alright see you soon cuz.” He chimed before ending the call.

“How are the specs looking?” Tony questioned, turning back to Bruce.

“The Iron legion will decrease a lot of casualties, I’m glad to say everything looks good.” Bruce returned.

 

Tony and the kids were upstairs just sitting down for dinner when Jarvis alerted them to the arrival of Tony’s guest.

The girls seemed to bounce with nervous energy as Tony led their new Aunt into the room.

“Sharon I’d like you to officially meet the girls, Alex, Chryssy, and Ana. And introduce you to Hades, Poseidon, Athena and Zeus. Guys I’d like you to meet my cousin Sharon.”

Sharon blinked at the many eyes now looking at her. “Hi it’s nice to finally meet you, your parents have told me so much about you.”

Ana sent Tony a look. “All good things I hope”

Tony chuckled “I only told her the truth”

They got up to properly hug her before reconvening at the table.

“I think I’ve seen you before” Alex announced.

Tony looked up from his plate at that.

“Do you remember when Shield turned into a fun house?” Ana queried, eyes assessing.

“Fun house? You mean Hell house?” Sharon returned with a chuckle.

“I knew it! You were on the elevator with Uncle Phil!” Chryssy shrieked.

“It was you and two other Agents! Jarvis!” Ana called.

Sharon pinked slightly, as a holo-screen appeared, a video of herself and two other agents singing along to Adele as the elevator continued to rise levels with each song.

“You guys were awesome!” Alex said with a chuckle.

“Okay, back to food.” Tony announced, taking pity on his flustered cousin

Sharon sent him a grateful smile before eating.

To Tony’s disappointment, Sharon did not stay long. Upon finding out about her, Hill made it her personal mission to bring her back into the fold, Tony found small solace in the fact that Sharon would be staying in her issued apartment at the tower.

***************

Tony introduced the team to the Iron Legion on a Tuesday.

“This program will decrease casualties.” Tony explained, two of the bots beside him on display.

Bruce stood on Tony’s left offering input when it seemed necessary, like now.

“You expect us to put these things on the street?” Steve questioned eyebrows raised in dismay.

Tony looked completely affronted so Bruce chose the moment to intervene.

“These “things” can do a lot of good, Steve. Think about it, while we focus on the threat, who focus’ on the civilians. Sure, occasionally we catch a villain before they can hurt someone, but what about the times we don’t. THIS can help with that. It’s directly linked to Jarvis so they can take orders from our comms when we give them. They’ll help set up perimeters, _and_ monitor them while we fight.”

“Do _they_ fight?” Natasha questioned, eyes unreadable as they surveyed the drones.

“They’re mostly sentries, they protect and monitor” Tony began

“But?” Natasha pushed.

“But, if civilians are compromised with Jarvis’ control they do, to some degree, have the ability to neutralize a threat.” He admitted, unsure if the added information would work for or against him.

Natasha shrugged at that. “I say we give it a try.”

“There’s one.” Tony chimed.

Clint eyed the group before settling on the drones. “I’m all for saving civilians.” Clint added.

“Two.” Tony murmured.

"I think their kinda cool." Sam added, lounging back in the chair he'd commandeered. 

"Three..." Tony drawled, before turning to Steve knowing that as their chosen leader his approval would hold a bit more weight.

Steve looked on only mildly convinced, before releasing a sigh. “Fine, we give it a try. But if anything seems out of line."

“shut it down, no questions asked.” Tony agreed. “All right, team meeting adjourned?”

Slowly they filed out of the meeting room leaving Bruce and Tony alone.

“I say it went pretty well.”

Bruce could only roll his eyes, before he too left the room.

 ************************

The sound of blaring alarms jolted the girls from their sleep. Eyes glowing blue as they searched the room for threats.

“Jarvis?” Alex growled.

“It is the Avengers call to Assemble.” He Returned.

The three looked to each other in confusion before reappearing in Tony’s room. Only to find it Empty. Distantly the sound of repulsor engines could be heard taking off.

The three rushed to the window, watching as the bright light of the quinjet disappeared into the sky.

Alex frowned before settling into Tony’s bed.

“Did Papa say where he was going?” Alex questioned, feeling frazzled.

“He and the rest of the Avengers have taken off to an… undisclosed location.” Jarvis offered.

“He didn’t even say good bye!” Ana huffed, climbing into the bed beside her sister.

“Sir wishes to inform you that, he apologizes for leaving abruptly and will further explain the alarm in better detail when he returns. Until then he, bids you a goodnight, and will see you in the morning.”

The girls frowned at the message before noticing Athena prowling into the room. Changing forms the girl smiled up at them before joining them in the bed.

“Next time go to the landing pad door. They move really quick. It only took them five minutes to take off.” She announced through a yawn. Curling up beside Chryssy the child was soon softly snoring.

Before they could comment the sound of a soft whirring drew their attention back to the window.

They watched as a hatch slid open on the side of the building, six droids flew out heading in the same direction as the quinjet.

“What are those?” Alex asked wide eyed as they too disappeared into the clouds.

“Probably their latest project.” Chryssy chimed.

“Oh, you mean the one Papa didn’t want us to know about?” Alex grumped.

Ana pouted at that before a yawn stretched across her features. At that the three made themselves cozy before drifting back off to sleep.

Tony flew back to the tower solo, the Legion behind him as the tower came into view. He couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he thought back to the small battle, the legion had done their job tremendously and the civilian toll was at zero though a few would be going home with a few scrapes and bruises, they would in fact be going home. Landing on the deck he watched as the Legion flew into the hangar specifically designed for them, a disassembly line ready for repairs and maintenance after each use. As the suit unfolded around him, Jarvis alerted him to the current where abouts of his children. With the sky shrouded in darkness, Tony climbed back into bed, careful of the new additions, before he too drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am honestly writing this to the best of my abilities. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, If you're wondering Thor is currently off world, but hopefully he'll be back... soon. if you have any questions feel free to drop a comment!


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..... Ummm... long time no see??? Okay I'll be honest... this story got away from me. I have literally been hoarding chapters like a dragon, and I just managed to scrape them together in a patch work form of an update... I Refuse to abandon my first work, but please be patient because I have no idea when the next one will be. SO here's all I have written so far!! I hope you all have been well!! Enjoy!

A flash of lightning drew Chryssy from her afternoon nap on the couch. Yawning, she rubbed at her eyes blearily, jerking when another flash of lightning hit the landing pad beside attatched to the penthouse.

“What the heck?” Chryssy mumbled, drawing closer.

 As the light cleared she found herself staring at an excitedly waving Thor. She let out a happy giggle before running towards the glass door.

“Jarvis!” she called.

The door opened wordlessly and she darted through. “Uncle Thor!” She called, launching herself at him.

 He caught her easily before spinning around, the girl erupting into giggles.

“Lady Chryssandra! It is a pleasure to see you again!” he bellowed.

“Chryssy! Uncle Thor! You can call me Chryssy!”

Thor nodded setting her down, before following her inside.

“Is your Father around? I have a request of him.”

Chryssy shook her head. “He’s on a mission with the other Avengers!”

Thor seemed to deflate, and Chryssy stared in awe as the large man drooped, she shot a quick message to her sisters in a panic and the two appeared beside her. Upon noticing him they cheered. “Uncle Thor!”

Thor perked up immediately, “Lady Anastasia, and Lady Alexandria!” he returned picking the two up in a bone crushing hug.

“Can’t breathe,” Ana huffed.

Thor lightened his grip and the two returned the hug happily.

“What did you need help with?” Chryssy asked once he’d sat them down.

“There was a battle in the city of Greenwich and Erik Selvig, my Lady Jane and her assistant Lady Darcy fought valiantly beside me. I was previously informed that I had quarters in the tower, I wish for Jane and Darcy to join me.”

“Dr. Jane foster?” Alex asked excitedly.

Thor nodded with a wide a smile. “You’ve heard of her?”

“Uh yeah! She’s one of the leading women in astrophysics! Papa has been trying to offer her funding with Stark industries, but they’ve never responded.” Alex said with a pout.

Thor frowned at that before continuing his story. “I would have brought them with me, but alas, I cannot fly with three people.”

“Jarvis can you call Papa?”

A ring-back tone rang out on a nearby tablet and Chryssy picked it up. Seconds later Tony’s face came into view from inside the HUD display of the suit.

“Hello?” He called, voice distracted.

“Papa!”

“Chryssy? Hold on.” he called, the sound of thumping echoing before things went relatively quiet. “Minion? What’s going on? is something wrong?”

“Uh yeah! There was a battle in Greenwich that you guys completely missed!”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry Thor handled it, He’s here right now!”

“Thor?”

Thor appeared on the screen over her shoulder waving jovially. “Greetings Brother Anthony.”

“Hey big guy, if you handled it then why are you calling now?”

“Because we need you to pick someone up on the way home!” Ana explained.

“I don’t think.” He began

“Dr. Jane Foster!” Alex called out.

Tony went silent.

“We need you to pick up Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, and our friend Darcy, she’s Jane’s assistant. Don’t worry they’re all together!” Chryssy explained.

Tony chuckled over the line. “Pepper has been trying to get in touch with that woman for months. Alright I’ll run it by the team. I’ve got to go alright.”

“Bye!” They crooned before Jarvis ended the call.

“Now that that’s taken care of lets find Babulya and get something to eat.”

They found her easily enough, teaching Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades in the studio.

Sitting around the island counter, the group helped with prep as Thor caught them up on the events that followed his departure.

“Wait, your brother died?” Alex said with a gasp.

“Aye,” he returned sullenly.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Thor seemed surprised at the admission.

“You would offer condolences for my brother who wreaked havoc in your realm?”

“He’s still your brother..” Ana replied, placing a comforting hand on his wrist, where she could reach.

Thor nodded at that. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Alex said with a smile.

“What has happened in my absence?” Thor questioned.

The kids immediately dove into story mode as they regaled the events that had transpired, leading up to Bucky currently being in a tree.

“Your magic did that?” Thor questioned.

The girls nodded excitedly.

Before they could continue, the sound of repulsors drew their attention to the landing pad.

The girls practically vibrated with excitement before Oksana forced them to continue eating.

Tony entered minutes later, and the kids ran for him, he managed to give each of them a hug before plopping into a chair at the table.

“Thor it’s good to see you buddy, your lady friend is on your floor.”

“Thank you, Anthony,” Thor bellowed, nodding at the kids he took off towards the elevator.

“Tony, Thor! Call me- oh forget it.” he said with a sigh. “Rogov something smells amazing.”

 

Tony managed to set Jane up in her own lab by the next day, the woman excitedly turned to pepper, who had joined them upon finding out about Jane coming to the tower.

After their background check came back clean Tony had finally allowed the girls to visit their old friend.

The three knocked on the glass to the lab excitedly and the three people behind it turned confused. They waved excitedly, and Darcy pointed with equal enthusiasm. The door slid open and the girls darted forwards catching Darcy in a hug.

“I never did get the chance to thank you three!”

“With all that happened to you guys I’m surprised you would!” Ana giggled.

“There were some downsides,” Darcy murmured.

The clearing of a throat from behind them drew their attention.

“Darcy?” Jane asked confused.

“Boss lady! These are the three girls who got me the internship with you! they introduced me to Betty.”

“Dr. Jane Foster, HI” Alex greeted with a beaming smile.

Her sisters rolled their eyes as the girl had a moment.

“Um hi.” Jane greeted.

“You are amazing, your work, and everything about you,” Alex continued, offering the woman a hand to shake.

Jane blushed, grasping her hand.

“Stop hogging her.” Ana huffed, standing beside her awe struck sister.

“Hi! That’s Alex, I’m Ana, big fan.” Ana chattered offering the woman her own dimpled hand/

Jane smiled in turn, shaking her proffered hand. “Pleasure.”

************

The girls watched excitedly as the quinjet uncloaked before landing on the heli pad. Though as they watched everyone pile out, they all seemed a bit worse for wear. Clint was leaning heavily on Natasha, and Tony seemed to be trying really hard to pretend he was fine but they could tell something was wrong. The girls reappeared in  front of him, he only paused minutely before continuing his stride.

“is everything okay, you seem tense.” Ana began.

“Tense, I’m not tense, why would I be tense.” He questioned still not pausing.

They watched him continue down the hall without following.

“Something’s off, his energy is different.” Chryssy decided.

Ana and Alex could only nod, before they were swept into a hug.

“Why the long faces?” Thor bellowed, carrying them down the hall

“Did Papa seem weird to you on the way back?”

“Brother Anthony has always been strange even for your kind, though he didn’t seem any stranger I can say.” He stated with a forced smile.

The girls chuckled at that “Where are you taking us?”

“Jane shares a lab floor with your father.”

“To the labs!” they chorused.

The girls hung out with Darcy for the rest of the day, before heading to Tony’s, he was in the kitchen tinkering with something before he looked up at their entrance.

“Minions, hey are you ready for dinner?”

The girls crowded around the table. “Did you guys find the scepter?”

Tony froze before nodding. “Yeah, we did. Thor’s going to take it back to Asgard with him.”

“Good I Hate that thing.” Ana grumbled as she settled into her chair.

Alex nodded in agreement. “Yeah feels weird.”

*******

The girls watched Tony toss and turn before Alex sat up.

“Nightmare?” she whispered.

Chryssy and Ana only shrugged.

Alex gently touched his forehead before jerking her hand back as if she’d been burned.

Chryssy watched confused. “What? What’s wrong.”

“Somethings in his head.” She hissed, before her eyes flashed to blue. “Help me.”

Ana and Chryssy, gathered closer before the three together placed a hand on his head.

Chryssy waited confused. “We can’t manipulate his mind.”

“No, but the energy that doesn’t belong...” Alex began.

“We can get it out.” Chryssy finished.

The three went silent as they focused on drawing out the energy. As the red energy drew out flashes of the battle of New York hit each of them, before a the dead pile of avengers came into focus.

Alex created a hardened ball of Ice, before the three coaxed the energy inside. Sealing the ice, the three collapsed around the bed. Passing out for their efforts. Tony finally stilling in his fitful sleep.

It was morning when Alex woke up again. She released a quiet groan before looking around in confusion. The events played out and she gasped looking down at the ball of ice in her hand and it’s swirling red occupant.

She quietly flitted from the room. “Jarvis can you help me call someone?” she whispered.

“Most people are asleep.” He replied, his volume matching hers.

“It’s important.” She pleaded.

“Very well miss.”

*******

The girls were in their lab, barred from the party currently taking place, still they managed to keep themselves occupied.

“Hey Jarvis can you monitor this while I check on the experiment.”

Upon receiving no response Ana looked up confused.

“Jarvis?” She called.

Alex looked over confused before drawing up her tablet. “He’s not here.”

Chryssy looked up from her notebook at that “What do you mean he’s not here?”

“I mean, Jarvis isn’t wait… How’s that possible.” She murmured eying Jarvis’ previous coding.

A high pitch noise reached them, and the girls cried out. They quickly ran down the hall to take the elevator to the common level. When the door didn’t open Ana sniffled. “oh right no Jarvis.”

“Keep it together.” Alex mumbled before eyeing the ventilation shaft.

The three crawled through the vent until they reached the common level, before they could come out a loud bang reverberated around them.

Alex peeked out of the vent cover cautiously before jerking back inside.

“Robot apocalypse!” She shrieked, before being shoved out of the way by Chryssy. Where she previously sat a large dent was now protruding.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Chryssy shrieked before grabbing them both and vanishing, they reappeared in Tony’s lab and she quickly hit the manual panic button before dropping to the floor with a sigh.

“What are you doing! We can help!” Ana huffed.

“They had it handled” Chryssy returned off handedly

“Had what handled?” a voice called.

The girls whirled around to find Jane and Darcy perched at a desk.

Ana clutched a hand to her rapid beating heart before sliding to the floor beside Chryssy.

Jane and Darcy rushed over “Oh my god, are you alright?”

“She’s fine, we just escaped the robot apocalypse, she’s still a little jumpy.” Alex reassured.

Darcy jolted at that “I’m sorry, did you say Robot apocalypse?”  

“What happened to the door?” Jane asked, looking at the metal plating.

“Safety protocols, something knocked out Jarvis, so we came here.” Chryssy offered.

“Is that possible?” Jane queried.

“Anything is possible.” Oksana explained sitting up from her laid down position on the couch.

“Jesus!” Ana shrieked before flopping back down.

Hades strode around the couch in cougar form before plopping himself down beside her.

“Am I missing something?” Darcy questioned.

“Anthony’s Ultron has gone haywire” Oksana offered.

Jane looked startled “Ultron? The peace keeping program he was working on?”

Alex looked up confuse “The what?”

The group whirled when metal plates around the room began to recede.

“Get back.” Oksana ordered, jumping over the couch. Landing in a crouch she pulled out twin pistols before taking cover behind a desk. The girls quickly hid behind a table, while Darcy and Jane scrambled for cover.

“Kitty cat makes a comeback?” Tony called.

“Kitty cat never left.” Oksana huffed before standing from her position and putting away her weapons.

“Papa What’s going on?” Alex called peaking over the desk.

The team filed in after him all looking battered. Rhodey helped Maria over to a desk chair as she hopped towards it. Helen strode over after them, producing a pair of tweezers before helping the woman pick broken glass out of her foot.

“What the hell was that?” Clint barked.

“Language.” Steve reminded before turning to Tony expectantly.

Tony shook his head.. “That was….”

“Where’s Thor?” Jane asked.

“He’s trying to catch the rogue legionnaire.” Steve offered. “Tony?”

“All our work is gone…” Bruce announced from his work station. ‘”Ultron Cleared out, he used the internet to escape.”

“Ultron?” Helen asked, not glancing up from her task.

Thor stormed into the room headed straight for Tony. Already on high alert his family sprang into action, Oksana had her Pistols redrawn and had both trained on the god, Ana drew Tony out of the way in a gust of wind before the three took up defensive positions around him. The cougars were at his flanks, all bases covered as Thor hesitated momentarily.

“Stand down.” Oksana warned.

“Wait a minute just wait!” Steve hissed stepping between the group.

“If he’d taken a moment to “wait” we would not be in this situation. You played with what you don’t understand, the scepter should have never been in your hands.” Thor bellowed.

“Exactly!” Growled Alex.

Thrown off, Thor frowned. “What?”

“You all let Papa go in that place alone!” Ana hissed.

“I can handle myself minion.” Tony grumbled.

Alex ignored him “Which is how that Witch got in your head!”

Tony shook his head “You lost me.”

“The enhanced.” Steve murmured.

“Exactly He’s fast, she’s weird.” She repeated the conversation she overheard in the hall.  “She put thoughts in his head and you let it happen. I trusted you, all of you.”

Tony looked down at her confused.

Alex rolled her eye before pulling out a glowing red Vial. “This is what she made him see.”

Alex carefully receded some of the ice and the contents floated out in a mass of red energy.

Tony stared in awe “How are you doing that?”

“The witch is an Energy manipulator, we manipulate nature. We can’t really do what she does to humans, but we were able to manipulate what she did.”

The image of the whale like alien floated in the red haze, before it became a vision of the Avengers in a too still pile. Steve came to with a gasp, making everyone in the room jump.

“You could have saved us, Why didn’t you do more?” Vision Steve gasped, before going still, once more.

Alex manipulated the red energy back into the vial before resealing the ice.

She looked around the room at all the floundering adults “Well?”

“That still doesn’t explain Ultron.” Thor grumbled.

“Ultron was supposed to be a peace keeping program. It was supposed to work in tandem with the iron legion while monitoring threats around the world of the intergalactic variety. It’s one of the reasons I’d been trying to recruit Dr. Foster. Her research would have been advancement in program.” Tony explained, taking the nearest seat.

Steve relaxed his tense position “And yet?”

“Jarvis was only running scans on the scepter.  Every other test we applied Ultron to failed. Whatever’s in the scepter was sentient enough to hijack Ultron. It gave him what we couldn’t.” Tony finished before displaying Ultron’s frame work in a 3D model.

Bruce came to his side, adjusting his glasses. “He said he killed someone. But everyone’s here.”

“Not everyone” Alex mumbled.

Tony pulled up another 3d module, this one golden in color.

“Jarvis.” Ana sniffled, Alex drew her in for a hug just as the door slid open.

“This place looks like shit, I thought you had maids or something.”

“Logan!” The girls chorused before rushing forward to give the man a hug.

Alex hugged him around the middle “You Came!”

“I told chuck what you said, and it matched the description of two people we’re looking for.”

“The missing mutants?” Chryssy asked.

“What missing mutants?” Natasha interjected.

“About six months ago Peter and Wanda Maximoff went missing during one of their visits home. Peter has enhanced speed and Wanda”

“Has neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, and mental manipulation.” Agent hill finished.

Logan frowned “So you’ve seen them?”

“The base we raided, during the attack we had a run in with your speedster,” Clint offered

“And papa ran into Wanda,” Ana added.

Logan nodded, “Looks like I came to the right place. I’ll give Charles a call and one of you can work out the details.”

Steve stepped forward, arms crossed. “I’ll come with you.”

Logan eyed him with a frown. “Cap?”

Steve smiled “James? Right? I thought that was you.” He offered him a hand and Logan didn’t hesitate to shake it.

“I’d heard they thawed you out, honestly I thought it was just propaganda.” Logan chuckled. Their voices fading as they walked down the hall.

“We need to figure out Ultron’s next move,” Maria began.

Bruce let out a frustrated sigh. “He wiped out all our files, all the work we curated.”

“Not all of it.” Tony huffed, leading the group to a room Pepper insisted they needed. “All the hard copies are in this room.”

Alex faked a stretch. “Good luck with that, I’m pretty sure I left an experiment running.”

“Me too!” Ana cheered, following her from the room

Chryssy wavered. “Me too?” Scuttling after her sisters

Headed up to the garden the girls chattered happily until Ana froze.

Alex and Chryssy stumbled into her.

“Not again.” Ana whispered, looking at the new tree taking up position beside Bucky’s.

Alex followed her sisters gaze before dropping her head. “We really should have thought those through.”

“How were we supposed to know they were prone to kidnapping people and turning them into trees.” Chryssy grumbled.

Ana giggled before running towards it, she placed a gentle hand at its base her smile turning into a frown as tears began to trickle down her face.

Alex rushed forward, pulling her into a hug. “What? Who is it?”

Ana only buried her face into her neck continuing to sob.

It dawned on her as she and Ana sunk into the grass. They’d only ever given one other person, besides Bruce, an orb. “Grandma Peggy?”

Ana nodded.

Chryssy rushed to the tree before wrapping her arms around it, seeming to begin a quiet conversation with it.

Alex focused back on Ana, who was still crying in her lap. She smoothed her hair back soothingly “I know it’s been a long day, with Jarvis, and now this. But we’re going to get Jarvis back, somethings not right about his coding, and Grandma Peggy’s in the tree, so she has to be healing. Maybe she won’t have Alzheimer’s anymore.” She murmured reassuringly.

“But James’ still in there, and it’s starting to feel like he’ll never come out. And and…. What do you mean somethings not right about Jarvis’ coding.” Ana sniffled, thoroughly distracted.

Alex blinked at the mood swing, “Well when he didn’t answer you, I brought up his mainframe, I figured he was glitching, but…” she pulled up her tablet once again bringing up Jarvis’ code. “Ultron was angry about something and he locked Jarvis out of the Towers mainframe. Nothing else is missing before Jarvis just vanishes. I think when Ultron escaped through the internet, Jarvis might have piggybacked out.”

Ana nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Okay but where is he now?”

“I… I don’t know.” She admitted

Ana sniffled. “Then we need to find out.” She dried the last of her tears before joining Chryssy at the tree, Alex trailing behind. “Hi grandma… I don’t know how long you’ve been in there… but, maybe don’t stay in too long. We miss you and I could really use one of your hugs.” Ana pleaded before turning to Alex and Chryssy. “Let’s go find our brother.” She glanced up into the branches before doing a double take. “Zeus how long have you been up there?”

Zeus let out a series of whines and clicks, lazily swinging his tail.

“Fine, keep an eye out and let us know if anything changes.” She ordered before leaving the room, Alex and Chryssy in tow. They made a stop in the file room only to come up short.

Alex looked around the room at all the scattered papers “Where’d everybody go?” She sniffed the air before zeroing on a familiar scent that seemed to still be in the tower.

They found Oksana on the communal floor pacing.

“Oh thank goodness!” She breathed, “I’ve been searching everywhere for you three, and without invisible Jarvis… Where have you been.” She chided.

Alex smiled sheepishly. “In the garden, there’s something we need to tell Papa is he still here?”

“He and his Avengers and the Logan flew off to fight Ultron.”

“What?!” Alex shrieked. “but we accidently trapped Grandma Peggy in a tree!”

Oksana’s eye widened at that “you what?”

“She must’ve broken her orb or something, we just found the tree an hour ago.” Ana offered.

She nodded, before watching them turn to leave. “Where are you going?”

Alex glanced over her shoulder, determination set in her eyes. “To find Jarvis.”

Oksana nodded before following them. “We’ll stay together, in case of an emergency.” She explained. The girls nodded before heading to their lab.

The sound of bare feet on the marble floor drew them from their work haze.

“Somebodies coming?” Alex announced turning to the door.

Oksana drew her guns stepping in front of the girls.

As they waited with baited breath, Zeus peered around the door frame in his human form.

“What are you doing here?” Alex questioned as Oksana lowered her guns.

“Well you told me to let you know if anything changed with the trees and… Hold on.” he huffed glancing at something behind the door.

He seemed to have a whispered conversation before he reached out a hand.

A pale and dainty hand grasped his in return before he pulled her into view. A woman with brunette hair and searching eyes greeted them.

“Grandma Peggy!” Ana cheered moving to run forward.

Oksana stopped her, eyeing the woman suspiciously “She does not look like Margaret.”

“I-I woke up like this, could one of you please tell me what’s going on everything’s a bit hazy.” She called, her English accent prominent.

“It’s her Babulya, I watched her come out of the tree, it was weird and I don’t really get it.” Zeus offered running a hand through his curly hair in an oddly Tony like display of confusion.

“What do you remember?” Oksana coaxed.

“I…” the woman frowned. “Oh dear god.” She blurted glancing down at her hands, before feeling at her face. “I was old… am I dead. Did I die?”

“No Grandma Peggy! Remember! What were you doing before?” Chryssy insisted,

Tears began to leak from her eyes. “I was in the nursing home, and I was.. I was dying. There was a snow globe, the one you girls gave me, and I dropped it. When it broke this green mist poured out, and I felt like I was being pulled somewhere when everything went dark. What’s happened to me?” she breathed out.

Oksana put away her guns and the girls rushed forward.

“I’m so sorry, We didn’t mean to!” Alex cried.

Peggy eyed the girl warily. “Mean to do what, exactly?”

“We gave you the orb so you’d remember us, we had no idea it could do this.” Ana rushed out.

“Make people young again?” Peggy asked.

“More or less, I think it varies depending on the person. Sergeant Barnes is still in his tree, but I believe he’s trying to remember himself,” Oksana offered.

Peggy seemed flummoxed “James Barnes is in that other tree?”

Chryssy nodded.

“He’s.. still alive and in a tree? I was in a tree?” She was gaping

“Not for as long as he was but yes. I wonder why?” Zeus offered, having been on tree watching duty.

“Someone asked me to come out?” She offered, sending Ana a knowing look. “They seemed so sad.”

Ana hugged the woman tight “You heard me!”

Peggy laughed before hugging the child. “You said you needed my help?”

“Let’s get you some clothes first?” Oksana offered.

Peggy blushed, looking down at the hospital gown she was in. “Good plan.”

In Oksana’s borrowed clothes Peggy sat comfortably with a cup of tea. “Shields fallen, and Anthony’s created a dangerous murder driven robot, Steve’s alive along with Bucky, who’s currently in a tree.”

Chryssy shrugged “Yeah I think you’ve got it.”

Peggy pursed her lips eyeing the television in thought, the headline made her gasp. “I think things have gotten worse.”

Alex froze before turning “What?”

The world news coverage showed Hulk and Iron man battling in a city in South Africa.

“I thought you said he was on our side?” Peggy asked dubiously.

“He is, Ultron must be working with the twins” Chryssy surmised.

“The mutant twins you were telling me about.” Peggy confirmed

Chryssy nodded.

“Oh dear,” Peggy huffed as she pursed her lips in thought. “I believe I need to make a call.”

Peggy stood over Alex as she finished her trace, a man’s image filling the screen beside them. He walked with a slight lean, a black cap over his head and dark sunglasses shading his eyes as he walked down the street.

Alex pressed a button on her tablet and the only payphone on the street rang. She let it ring twice before ending the call. The man paused in his movements and she quickly pressed the button again. On the third ring she hung up. The man’s shoulders seemed to tense before he moved towards the payphone. She hit the button again and this time he answered it on the first ring.

“How did you find me.” He grumbled.

Alex snorted “Like it was hard?”

Nick let out a huff. “This better be important.”

“Have you not been watching the news? Of course it’s important. Someone wants to talk to you.” She said at Peggy’s hurried look.

“Who?” He asked

“Director Fury, when were you going to tell me you destroyed my agency?”

“Carter? Is that you? You sound… different.”

“No time to explain, I’ll pick you up at the mall down the road.” She ordered before hanging up.

 “How are you going to get to Maine?” Ana asked.

“Fly? Anthony’s commandeered a few quinjets… hasn’t he?” she asked.

“Just one and their using it.” Oksana supplied.

 Peggy chuckled “Oh dear, then I fear I may have jumped the gun,”

“We do have a flying car, it’s usually manned by Jarvis but he’s…. not here right now.”

“I will fly it.” Oksana stated with a nod. “We will have to bring the children with us, I will not leave them alone.”

“You mean all seven of them?” Peggy asked wide eyed.

“Do not worry we added back facing seats when the cougars turned human. Come, it is in the garage.”

Athena, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon joined them on the way, the girls calling to them as they learned they could with most animals.

Together they piled in and Alex manually inputted Nick’s location before they drove out of the garage. Oksana drove to a somewhat deserted area before taking off into the sky, the cloaking device Tony added making them invisible to the untrained eye. The trip took about an hour, and it wasn’t long before they pulled up to the mall.

Peggy moved to get out of the car before Oksana stopped her. “I do not think he will believe it is you, I will go and bring him.” She offered before turning to the kids in the back, “Stay here.” She ordered before leaving the car.

“s’not like we’d of followed her.” Hades said with a pout.

Peggy laughed before eyeing them. “You all have grown so much, I remember when you were still in diapers.”

Ana wrinkled her nose. “Don’t remind me.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Alex questioned, looking over the woman.

“I admit I’m still a bit disoriented, but I remember everything I couldn’t before. I think I’ll be okay.” Peggy stated with a reassuring smile.

“Do you think we should stop calling you grandma Peggy?” Chryssy asked quietly.

“Of course not! Looking younger won’t stop me from being your grandmother, I’m quite looking forward to the looks we’ll receive.” She said with a smirk.

The group burst into laughter at that just as Oksana came into view.

She stepped through the mall doors closely followed by Nick.

“Rogov where are you taking me?” He growled.

“The car is nearby.” She said before stepping off the curb.

Nick moved to follow only to bump into the still cloaked car.

“Mother fucker! You couldn’t have warned me?”

Oksana chuckled before opening the driver side door.

From inside the car Chryssy pushed open the door, making Nick jump out of the way.

“Hi uncle Nick!” she said with a small grin.

“What are they doing here?” hey huffed.

“We don’t have much time, I’ll explain on the way,” Peggy called from the front seat.

Nick sighed as the girls scooted over to make room for him.

“Honestly Carter I thought it was the phone but your voice still sounds strange, how did you get out of the nursing home? the guards have been looking for yo…” He trailed off when Peggy turned around in the front seat.

“Hello Nick, Long time no see.” She glared.

Alex giggled as Nick’s eyes seemed to bug.

“What the hell is going on?” he ordered.

“Oh relax,” Peggy chided. “I said I’d explain.”

 After the long explanation Nick seemed to come to terms with the events, he glanced out the window with a frown. “Where are we headed?”

“Um, where not sure actually. We tracked Papa’s location, so it looks like were following it too…. That can’t be right.” Ana said with a frown, looking at their ending location.

“What is it?” Oksana called.

“Its says he’s in Missouri?”

Nick nodded. “It makes since, keep going.”

Oksana frowned but continued to follow the gps.

“So you three can grow trees?” Nick asked.

Alex giggled, they never did tell him about the their mutation. “We can do a bit more than that.” She admitted.

They arrived with the sun just beginning to set. They parked behind a barn before quietly sneaking in.

“Why do we have to hide in here?” Zeus asked blowing a piece of hay out of his face.

“Stark needs more surprises in his life.” Nick chuckled darkly, sending off a text.

Just as the kids were becoming impatient the barn door creaked open. Oksana quickly clamped a hand over an excited Athena’s mouth, watching as Tony approached an old tractor.

He eyed the tractor as he moved closer “Tell me where it hurts.”

“Could you try not to bring it to life?” Nick called stepping out from their hiding spot.

Tony jumped, before glaring behind him. “Barton, you”

“Language!” Peggy cut him off conscious of the seven underage sets of ears.

Tony frowned before stepping closer. “That is the second time one of you has said that to me,” Tony blinked twice as Peggy stepped into the light. “Fury, I think Hulk may have done permanent damage.”

“You’ve got talented girls Tony, you should be proud.” Peggy said with a grin.

Tony gaped. “A tree?”

Peggy nodded. “A tree.”

“We’ll have a talk later.” he promised, finally coming to a stop in front of her.

Peggy didn’t hesitate to bring him into a hug, which he immediately melted into.

“Did you just lick me?” Oksana yelped.

Athena took her chance before darting from the hay tackling Tony in a hug. “Hi Papa!”

Tony blinked, “What are you doing here little lady?”

“Well…” Alex called before climbing out from behind the haystack.

Oksana stood before walking around. “I had to drive.”

“Drive what?” Tony asked, eyes narrowed.

“The Iron man mobile…” Chryssy offered.

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose “why?”

“We had to pick up uncle Nick! We saw you on the news, and Grandma Peggy wanted to help.”

“All of you are here?” Tony reiterated, for clarification.

Four more heads popped out from the hay with bright smiles. “Hi Papa!” they chorused.

Tony chuckled, before it turned into full on laughter. “Well do I get a hug or what? I’ve had a long day.”

The six of them joined in on the hug, Athena still perched in his arms.

“Alright, family reunion over, we’ve got shit to deal with.” Nick

“You didn’t get a hug though.” Ana pouted cutely.

Nick suppressed an eye roll before opening his arms. Immediately he was engulfed in a hug from all seven kids.

“Can we go now?” he asked.

Tony lead his group into the house where they met the confused looks of Steve, Clint and Natasha, Bruce who was just coming down the stairs froze.

Clint began to sputter. “T-This place is supposed to be a secret, how did you find it?”

“I knew where it was, but the girls tracked Tony.” Nick said with a shrug as he looked around. “Place came out nice, How’d Romanov take it?”

“Take what?” she asked, sending the Director a narrowed eyed look.

Nick looked perturbed by her stare before he switched his gaze to Clint. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Natasha hissed. 

Clint stood pulling Natasha with him “Director Fury, with all due respect, please stop talking.” He urged, pulling a suspicious Natasha from the room.

“Peggy?” Steve asked, drawing everyone’s attention to where he stood.

Peggy smiled brightly tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Hello Steve.”

Tony repressed an eyeroll.

Steve stepped forward and Peggy met him halfway.

“You look…” He began before giving up. “What happened?”

 She huffed. “Is that anyway to treat a woman who waited seventy years for you?”

Steve’s lip twitched. ”No ma’am,” He grinned.

Peggy smirked before closing the distance between them with a kiss.

Ana cooed happily, nearly falling to the floor.

Alex released a sniffle “So romantic,” She sighed as she wiped a stray tear on the edge of Tony’s shirt.

Peggy pulled away first, leaving Steve flushed in her wake as she took a seat on the couch.

“What happened?” he asked again.

“I got into one of those magical trees my girls were harboring, they work wonders really, now back to business, What the hell happened in Africa!”

“Finally.” Tony grumbled

Natasha and Clint chose that moment to re-enter the room, and from the blank look on her face, it didn’t seem to have gone well. Natasha took up a position beside Oksana, while Clint returned to his previous seat.

Alex looked around the room seeming to just realize someone was missing. “Wait where’s Logan?”

“Regrouping. He went back to the mansion.” Tony explained, as Alex happily squeezed between him and Peggy the rest spreading out around the room.

“Ultron was buying vibranium from a smuggler, we got into a fight with Wanda and Pietro there,” Steve let out a sigh. “Logan wasn’t able to wake them from whatever trance their in.”

Clint perked up. “I tried electrocuting her in the head, I’m not sure if it worked, her brother took her away too fast.”

Steve nodded. “She separated most of us with mind control, Thor went somewhere to deal with his own end result, he... didn’t tell me where.”

“So what do we do next.” Bruce questioned.

Nick stepped forward. “Ultron took you all out of play to buy himself time, my contacts all say he’s building something.”

Steve’s frowned deepened. “The amount of vibranium he took off with…. I don’t think it’s just one thing.”

Bruce finally spoke up “Is he still going after Nuclear codes?”

Tony nodded “Yes he is, but he’s not making any headway. I checked with my friends at Nexus, and it seems someone keeps changing the codes.”

“We have an ally?” Steve asked.

Oksana shook her head while Natasha spoke “Ultron’s got an Enemy, it’s not the same thing.”

“Still I’d pay money to find out who it is..” Tony grumbled.

From beneath her Ana pinched Alex on her leg.

“Ow what?” she hissed.

Ana sent her a pointed look.

Alex frowned before it dawned on her. “Oh! Oh! We know who it is!” she cheered proudly.

Tony frowned at that, “what did you do?”

“Nothing illegal I promise, we were actually trying to find Jarvis.”

“I thought he was destroyed.” Clint chimed.

“No, he wasn’t. Ultron locked him out of the Mainframe before he wreaked havoc on you guys, but then he escaped into the internet like Uncle Bruce said.” Alex explained.

“He disabled Jarvis’ ability to control everything at once,” Ana added.

“Yeah, but when Ultron escaped Jarvis, we think, hitched a ride off of him before taking his own route. We were able to have a one way conversation. I told Jarvis to stay where he was and that you’d help him soon!” Alex finished, turning to Tony

Tony smirked. “Did I ever tell you, you’re a genius?”

“You might have mentioned it once or twice.” She giggled.

“So Jarvis is protecting Nuclear codes, where does that leave us?” Bruce questioned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmmmm... So what did you think? I love the girls and their personalities and hopefully you do too!!! Likes, Questions? If you have something you'd like to see happen, maybe, Speak now or forever hold your piece!!! Thank you all for sticking around!!!
> 
> All mistakes are mine.. no more revising.. we die like Word never existed. (And because Revisions are what took me this long to update;)


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